Common data model for sickle cell disease surveillance: considerations and implications

Population-level data on sickle cell disease (SCD) are sparse in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is addressing the need for SCD surveillance through state-level Sickle Cell Data Collection Programs (SCDC). The SCDC developed a pilot common informatics infrastructure to standardize processes across states.

We describe the process for establishing and maintaining the proposed common informatics infrastructure for a rare disease, starting with a common data model and identify key data elements for public health SCD reporting.

The proposed model is constructed to allow pooling of table shells across states for comparison. Core Surveillance Data reports are compiled based on aggregate data provided by states to CDC annually.

We successfully implemented a pilot SCDC common informatics infrastructure to strengthen our distributed data network and provide a blueprint for similar initiatives in other rare diseases.