title: The MARK-AGE phenotypic database: Structure and strategy.
abstract: In the context of the MARK-AGE study, anthropometric, clinical and social data as well as samples of venous blood, buccal mucosal cells and urine were systematically collected from 3337 volunteers. Information from about 500 standardised questions and about 500 analysed biomarkers needed to be documented per individual. On the one hand handling with such a vast amount of data necessitates the use of appropriate informatics tools and the establishment of a database. On the other hand personal information on subjects obtained as a result of such studies has, of course, to be kept confidential, and therefore the investigators must ensure that the subjects' anonymity will be maintained. Such secrecy obligation implies a well-designed and secure system for data storage. In order to fulfil the demands of the MARK-AGE study we established a phenotypic database for storing information on the study subjects by using a doubly coded system.
authors: Molecular Toxicology Group, Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, 78457 Konstanz, Germany. Electronic address: maria.moreno-villanueva@uni-konstanz.de.
authors: María
authors: M
authors: Moreno-Villanueva
authors: Chair for Bioinformatics and Information Mining, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany.
authors: Tobias
authors: T
authors: Kötter
authors: Molecular Toxicology Group, Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, 78457 Konstanz, Germany.
authors: Thilo
authors: T
authors: Sindlinger
authors: Molecular Toxicology Group, Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, 78457 Konstanz, Germany.
authors: Jennifer
authors: J
authors: Baur
authors: Molecular Toxicology Group, Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, 78457 Konstanz, Germany.
authors: Sebastian
authors: S
authors: Oehlke
authors: Molecular Toxicology Group, Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, 78457 Konstanz, Germany.
authors: Alexander
authors: A
authors: Bürkle
authors: Chair for Bioinformatics and Information Mining, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany.
authors: Michael R
authors: MR
authors: Berthold
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000097:blood* / Q000652:urine*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood / Q000652:urine; D003219:Confidentiality; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval; D008297:Male; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers
keywords: Data management; Database