Rare disease (RD) registries are important platforms that facilitate communication between health care professionals, patients and other members of the multidisciplinary team. RD registries enable data sharing and promotion of research and audits, often in an international setting, with the overall aim of improving patient care. RD registries also have a fundamental role in supporting the work of clinical networks such as the European Reference Networks (ERNs) for rare diseases. With the recent expansion of RD registries, it has become even more essential to outline standards of good practice in relation to governance, infrastructure, documentation, training, audits and adopting the Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR) data principles to maintain registries of high quality. For the purpose of this paper, we highlight vital aspects of data access and data governance policies for RD registries, using the European Registries for Rare Endocrine Conditions (EuRRECa) as an example of a project that aims to promote good standards of practice for improving the quality of utilization of RD registries.
Rare endocrine pathology is manifested by either a deficiency or excess of one or more hormones. These conditions can be life-threatening and are almost universally associated with long-term morbidity. Understanding the aetiology of these conditions requires multicentre collaboration and expertise, most often across national boundaries, with the capacity for long-term follow-up. The EuRRECa (European Registries for Rare Endocrine Conditions) project (www.eurreca.net), funded by the EU Health Programme, aims to support the needs of the wider endocrine community by maximising the opportunity for collaboration between patients, health care professionals and researchers across Europe and beyond. At the heart of the EuRRECa collaboration is a Core Endocrine Registry that collects a core dataset for all rare endocrine conditions that are covered within Endo-ERN. The registry incorporates patient reported markers of clinical outcome and will signpost participants to high-quality, disease-specific registries. Furthermore, an electronic surveillance programme (e-REC) captures clinical activity and epidemiology for these rare conditions. EuRRECa receives guidance compliant with the highest ethical standards from Expert Working Groups that align with the Main Thematic Groups of Endo-ERN. Security, data quality and data governance are cornerstones of this platform. Clear policies that are acceptable to patients, researchers and industry for data governance coupled with widespread dissemination and knowledge exchange through closely affiliated stakeholders will ensure sustainability beyond the current lifetime of the project. This paper describes the infrastructure that has been developed, stakeholder involvement, the data fields that are captured within the registry and details on the process for using the platform.
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