Linking Big Data in Cardiac Care: Improving Research and Insights

2023-06-23 11:01:13

Data is needed to conduct effective research, a lot of data. AI, which can, for example, contribute to identifying patients who have an increased risk of heart problems, also needs big data from as many quality sources as possible. Moreover, the future models will also have more computing power and be able to analyze more data. Data links, of course safe and with respect for privacy, as now between NHR and CBS are therefore important.

Relevant research in cardiac care

In short: the more good data that can be combined, the better it will ultimately be for research into heart care in the broadest sense of the word. In that perspective, the link that the Dutch Heart Registry and CBS have made is of course good news.

Ivo Gorissen, Senior Advisor Microdata Services at CBS, explains: “We are seeing increasing interest from researchers in medical statistical research using registration data and are therefore enthusiastic about the NHR’s initiative to make their dataset available for research using CBS data. . Based on the CBS Act, we can jointly enable researchers to conduct scientific and socially relevant research.”

Data link with quality information

Thanks to the new data link, the quality information from the NHR registrations can be combined with CBS microdata. This means that more data is available for research and statistical analyses. Because the analyzes are performed in the secure CBS environment, the privacy and security of patient data is guaranteed.

Data from other systems, such as the National Basic Registration Hospital Care (LBZ), data managed by Dutch Hospital Data (DHD), are also accessible on request via Statistics Netherlands. In this way it becomes possible to enrich information. Think, for example, of data about angioplasty procedures, heart failure or bypass operations and numerous other information such as the socio-economic status of patients. In this way, a broader picture of the health of patients and their living conditions can be formed.

More insight into heart failure

Heart4Data was an important initiator in realizing this data link. This is a consortium of the Dutch CardioVasculair Alliance (DCVA), in which the NHR works together with other DCVA partners on an infrastructure for registration-based research. In the DCVA, 22 research and healthcare organizations have joined forces to accelerate solutions for cardiovascular diseases.

Dr. Saskia Houterman, epidemiologist at the NHR and project manager at Heart4Data explains the importance of the new data link briefly and forcefully: “The availability of more and more complete data will contribute to research into the development of new, effective treatments and improved care for initially heart failure patients, but ultimately the entire heart care. By linking the NHR data with the CBS microdata, researchers can now, for example, look at cardiovascular-related causes of death of deceased patients. This link also makes it possible to gain more insight into medication use by patients who have undergone cardiovascular intervention.”