A public database on traumatic brachial plexus injury: data collection and sharing

To create a public digital database centered on adult traumatic brachial plexus injury (TBPI). TBPI mainly affects young males, usually involved in motorcycle accidents, often leading to severe motor and sensory impairment in the affected upper limb. This initiative aimed at encouraging data sharing and reuse. Managing data from TBPI may enable the identification of functional markers associated with clinical improvement in individuals with TBPI and foster the development of new investigative tools to elucidate its mechanisms.

Detailed electronic questionnaires were designed to collect epidemiological, physical, and clinical data. The free software Neuroscience Experiments System (NES) was employed to support data storage and management. Hence, data from 170 Brazilian adult individuals with TBPI with varying degrees of functional impairment were collected. The Unified Admission Assessment (Q44071_unified-admission-assessment) was devised to register the first evaluation by the TBPI research group. The Unified Follow-up Assessment (Q92510_unified-follow-up-assessment) was created to register subsequent follow-up visits. The Unified Surgical Evaluation (Q61802_unified-surgical-evaluation) was designed to record the surgical procedures used for brachial plexus reconstruction. Data collection occurred between 2014 and 2020.