Title |
Technical challenges of providing record linkage services for research
|
---|---|
Published in |
BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, March 2014
|
DOI | 10.1186/1472-6947-14-23 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
James H Boyd, Sean M Randall, Anna M Ferrante, Jacqueline K Bauer, Adrian P Brown, James B Semmens |
Abstract |
Record linkage techniques are widely used to enable health researchers to gain event based longitudinal information for entire populations. The task of record linkage is increasingly being undertaken by specialised linkage units (SLUs). In addition to the complexity of undertaking probabilistic record linkage, these units face additional technical challenges in providing record linkage 'as a service' for research. The extent of this functionality, and approaches to solving these issues, has had little focus in the record linkage literature. Few, if any, of the record linkage packages or systems currently used by SLUs include the full range of functions required. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
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India | 1 | 25% |
United Kingdom | 1 | 25% |
Unknown | 2 | 50% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
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Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 2 | 50% |
Members of the public | 2 | 50% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United Kingdom | 2 | 4% |
Australia | 2 | 4% |
Canada | 1 | 2% |
Unknown | 48 | 91% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
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Researcher | 16 | 30% |
Student > Master | 12 | 23% |
Professor > Associate Professor | 5 | 9% |
Student > Ph. D. Student | 5 | 9% |
Student > Bachelor | 4 | 8% |
Other | 7 | 13% |
Unknown | 4 | 8% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Computer Science | 15 | 28% |
Medicine and Dentistry | 12 | 23% |
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 3 | 6% |
Nursing and Health Professions | 3 | 6% |
Social Sciences | 3 | 6% |
Other | 8 | 15% |
Unknown | 9 | 17% |