title: Application of Clinical Databases to Contemporary Cardiac Surgery Practice: Where are We now?
abstract: Cardiac surgery has embraced and encouraged the use of large, multi-institutional datasets in clinical practice. From a research perspective, database studies have facilitated an increased understanding of cardiac surgery. Among other uses, they have allowed an investigation of disease incidence and mortality, high risk groups, disparities in health care delivery and the impact of new devices and techniques. Databases are also important tools for clinical governance and quality improvement. Despite their obvious utility, clinical databases have limitations; they are subject to treatment bias, contain missing data and cannot establish causality. Moreover, the ongoing maintenance of the database requires significant human and financial resources. In the future, inclusion of more detailed follow-up data and integration with other datasets will improve the utility of clinical databases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Discipline of Surgery, Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia. Electronic address: akshat16187@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Akshat
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saxena
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne, Melbourne, Vic., Australia.
authors.forename: Andrew E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Newcomb
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Discipline of Surgery, Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia; The Baird Institute, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Vikrant
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Dhurandhar
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Discipline of Surgery, Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia; The Baird Institute, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Paul G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Bannon
mesh_terms: D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures; D016208:Databases, Factual; D006801:Humans
keywords: Australia and New Zealand Society of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgeons (ANZSCTS); Cardiac surgery; Database; Observational studies; Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery (SCTS); Society of Thoracic Surgery (STS)