Discrete data Health Dictionary

An indexed computer or printed source that provides information, in the form of guidelines for diagnosis, treatment and care indications, about older persons, or other authoritative information (for example, a computer database on drug indications, contraindications and interactions).... factual database

An indexed computer or printed source of citations of journal articles and other reports in the literature. Bibliographic citations typically include author, title, source, abstract and/or related information (including full text in some cases).... bibliographic database

See “data”.... continuous data (variable)

Items of information. continuous data: Data with a potentially infinite number of possible values along a continuum (e.g. height, weight). discrete data: Data that can be arranged into naturally occurring or arbitrarily groups or sets of values. individual data: Data that have not been put into a frequency distribution or rank ordered.... data

This legislation puts into e?ect the UK European Directive 95/46/EC on the processing of personal data, whether paper or computer records. The Act is based on eight principles, the ?rst of which stipulates that ‘personal data shall be processed fairly and lawfully’. Unfortunately this phrase is open to di?erent interpretations. Clari?cation is required to determine how the common-law duty of con?dentiality affects the health services in the context of using data obtained from patients for research work, especially epidemiological studies (see EPIDEMIOLOGY). Health authorities, trusts and primary care groups in the NHS have appointed ‘Caldicott guardians’ – named after a review of information that identi?es patients. A prime responsibility of the guardians is to agree and review internal protocols for the protection and use of identi?able information obtained from patients. The uncertainties over the interpretation of the legislation require clari?cation, but some experts have suggested a workable solution: to protect patients’ rights, researchers should ensure that data are fully anonymised whenever possible; they should also agree their project design with those responsible for data protection well in advance of its planned starting date. (See ETHICS.)... data protection act 1998

Any of a wide variety of repositories (often computerized) for observations and related information about a group of individuals, a disease, an intervention or other events or characteristics, typically organized for easy search and retrieval.... database (or register)

See HEALTH DATABASES.... databases

The centralised collection and storage of information about the health of individuals. Recent advances in GENETICS have raised concerns about the potential for abuse of all health databases, whether maintained for scienti?c research – which has long used them – or for government or community health planning, or by groups of professionals (or individuals) to help in the treatment of patients. The public is concerned about whether their rights to privacy and con?dentiality are threatened by databases and whether information about them could be disclosed and misused.... health databases

See “data”.... individual data

A widely agreed upon and generally accepted set of terms and definitions constituting a core of data acquired for e.g. assessment purposes.... minimum data set

Information not available for a subject (or case) about whom other information is available.... missing data

The entire set of information that has been collected, before any cleaning, editing or statistical manipulation begins.... raw data

This type of analysis utilizes existing data sources either through synthesis or integration; meta-analysis is an example of secondary data analysis.... secondary data analysis

Any information given different weights in calculation or data in which values for some cases have been adjusted to reflect differences in the number of population units that each case represents.... weighted data

legal safeguards relating to the use and storage of personal information about a living person. Under the Data Protection Act 2018, which implements the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and supersedes the Data Protection Act 1998, individuals have a basic right to control information stored about them. Information concerning health, considered ‘sensitive personal data’ under the legislation, must be used only for the purpose (health care of the individual) for which it was gathered, must be kept secret, and cannot be used or passed on to others without the knowledge of the subject. However, anonymized health data from individual patients’ electronic records may be used for research purposes or to improve medical treatment and health-service delivery.... data protection