Canadian Metadata Catalogue for Health Science Research

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Data Science
• Epidemiology

Background:

• Canadian healthcare research is hindered by distributed, poorly documented databases.
• Identifying, accessing, and harmonizing data from diverse sources is challenging.
• Metadata, or data about data, is crucial for understanding database characteristics but is often difficult to find.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe a novel metadata catalogue for Canadian medical and non-medical databases.
• To provide comprehensive information on database characteristics and variables.
• To assist users in navigating data access procedures.

Main Methods:

• A multidisciplinary team prioritized databases from an initial list of 385.
• Metadata cataloguing involved describing database characteristics and collected variables.
• Information was gathered for 83 selected national, provincial, and regional databases.

Main Results:

• The Sepsis Canada Network Metadata Catalogue documents 83 databases (57 registries, 13 cohort, 13 cross-sectional).
• Databases cover national (16), near-national (13), and provincial (45) scopes.
• Detailed variable information is included for 33 (38%) of the documented databases.

Conclusions:

• The catalogue offers freely accessible, searchable metadata for diverse health-related databases.
• It covers medical care, non-medical data, and determinants of health.
• This resource can significantly facilitate health research initiatives in Canada.