A minimum data set for traumatic brain injuries in Iran

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Epidemiology
• Health Informatics

Background:

• Traumatic brain injury (TBI) presents a significant global public health challenge.
• Effective TBI registries require standardized, comparable data for epidemiological and clinical analysis.
• Iran currently lacks a national standard tool for collecting TBI registry data.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a national minimum data set (MDS) for hospital-based traumatic brain injury (TBI) registries in Iran.
• To establish a standardized framework for collecting essential TBI data.
• To facilitate national-level TBI surveillance and research.

Main Methods:

• A two-phase approach was employed, beginning with a comprehensive literature review.
• An e-Delphi methodology involving TBI experts was utilized for content validation.
• The study focused on selecting administrative and clinical data elements for the MDS.

Main Results:

• The developed MDS comprises 182 data elements, divided into administrative and clinical sections.
• The administrative part includes 5 categories with 52 data elements.
• The clinical part contains 9 categories with 130 data elements.

Conclusions:

• This study successfully developed Iran's first national MDS for TBI.
• The MDS provides a standardized foundation for a national TBI registry.
• Implementation of this MDS will enable essential, comparable data collection for TBI management and research.