Consenting to share data from electronic health records to research deposits: Constraints, obstacles, and proxy

In the age of data, one of the major challenges of biomedical research is to have access to the patients' information. As health data of the populations are being globally stored into electronic health records, a lingering demand from the research community is to have these data transferred to electronic research records that would be accessible for research purposes. The central element for sharing data from electronic health records to research deposits is the consent. Yet, can a valid consent be obtained if the magnitude and outcomes of the research to be performed with massive data cannot be foreseen? We will analyze the trans-sectional, trans-temporal, and trans-spatial characteristics of the data that could be shared between electronic health records and electronic research records. We will then explore the constraints and obstacles to ensure the validity of the consent, and decipher the possibility of a gradation of the consent.