Design of an Integrated Clinical Research Informatics System for a Multi-Centre and Multi-Visit Prospective Birth Cohort Study

Abstract

To conduct a multi-center prospective study over more than one year requires an efficient system that can synchronize collection of data from several sources in real-time and facilitate remote data management. This paper describes the design and use of an in-house data collection and sample information management system that was used in a prospective birth cohort study in Thailand. Participants were enrolled from three hospitals and were required to visit their respective hospital and complete self-administered questionnaires (SAQ) at every visit. The in-house informatics system required integration of the data collection streams that can handle three different types of data (SAQ, clinical record, and laboratory sample tracking). The system has been implemented in the pilot phase of a birth cohort study and has demonstrated its usability for further application to an expanded study.