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Toward Interoperable Variable Definitions: A FHIR-Based Standardization Strategy for the METASTRA Project
Serena Moscato1,2, Alberto Marfoglia3, Valerio Antonio Arcobelli1
1Department of Electrical, Electronic, and Information Engineering - Guglielmo Marconi (DEI), University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
Standardizing multicenter clinical data using Health Level Seven Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (HL7 FHIR) and SNOMED CT improves research quality. This approach successfully standardized 88% of variables, enhancing data reuse for personalized vertebral metastasis strategies.
Area of Science:
- Clinical Informatics
- Health Data Standardization
- Multicenter Study Data Integration
Background:
- Multicenter clinical studies offer significant research potential but require data standardization for enhanced quality.
- Semantic interoperability is crucial for maximizing the value of integrated clinical data.
Purpose of the Study:
- To present a strategy for standardizing a retrospective multicenter dataset from the METASTRA project.
- To demonstrate the feasibility and reliability of using HL7 FHIR and SNOMED CT for data standardization.
Main Methods:
- Mapping variables to HL7 FHIR resources and fields.
- Utilizing SNOMED CT terminology for semantic standardization.
- Applying a modular transformation pipeline to convert raw data into FHIR resources.
Main Results:
- Successfully standardized 88% (87/99) of a subset of variables.
- Employed nine HL7 FHIR resources and 177 SNOMED CT concepts for standardization.
- Confirmed data consistency between original and standardized datasets via validation queries.
Conclusions:
- The proposed standardization approach is reliable and effective for multicenter datasets.
- This methodology facilitates the creation of semantically coherent clinical knowledge bases.
- Enhanced data reuse and evidence generation are key benefits for clinical studies.
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