Adaptability of Existing Feasibility Tools for Clinical Study Research Data Platforms

Abstract

Introduction: The increasing need for secondary use of clinical study data requires FAIR infrastructures, i.e. provide findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable data. It is crucial for data scientists to assess the number and distribution of cohorts that meet complex combinations of criteria defined by the research question. This so-called feasibility test is increasingly offered as a self-service, where scientists can filter the available data according to specific parameters. Early feasibility tools have been developed for biosamples or image collections. They are of high interest for clinical study platforms that federate multiple studies and data types, but they pose specific requirements on the integration of data sources and data protection. Methods: Mandatory and desired requirements for such tools were acquired from two user groups — primary users and staff managing a platform’s transfer office. Open Source feasibility tools were sought by different literature search strategies and evaluated on their adaptability to the requirements. Results: We identified seven feasibility tools that we evaluated based on six mandatory properties. Discussion: We determined five feasibility tools to be most promising candidates for adaption to a clinical study research data platform, the Clinical Communication Platform, the German Portal for Medical Research Data, the Feasibility Explorer, Medical Controlling, and the Sample Locator.