Empowering knowledge generation through international data network: the IMeCCHI-DATANETWORK.

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Health Informatics
• Data Science

Background:

• The International Methodology Consortium for Coded Health Information (IMeCCHI) promotes methodological advances in coded health information.
• The IMeCCHI-DATANETWORK initiative developed a distributed data infrastructure and common data model (CDM) for cross-border data sharing and international comparisons.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish a multi-purpose distributed data infrastructure enabling international data sharing and analysis.
• To develop and implement a common data model (CDM) for harmonizing diverse health databases.
• To test the feasibility of distributed data analysis across multiple countries.

Main Methods:

• Consortium partners from six countries described their databases using a questionnaire.
• A common data model (CDM) was agreed upon, and population-based databases were mapped to its specifications.
• Data transformation was performed using the common data management software, TheMatrix.

Main Results:

• The CDM includes four structured data tables (person characteristics, hospitalizations, outpatient prescriptions, death) linked by a person identifier.
• Local databases were transformed into CDM-compliant CSV files, enabling syntactical and semantic interoperability.
• A proof-of-concept study demonstrated the ability to share results across countries while maintaining local data control and confidentiality.

Conclusions:

• The IMeCCHI-DATANETWORK model proves the feasibility of analyzing international data using standardized methods in a distributed manner.
• Independent regional analyses are possible without data relocation, preserving local confidentiality.
• The distributed data infrastructure facilitates generalized findings across countries, enhancing cross-border data sharing and international comparisons.