Weinshenker B G
Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street, SW, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.
Mult Scler. 1999 Aug;5(4):206-11. doi: 10.1177/135245859900500402.
A database is an organized repository of data. Prospective collection of patient information in a database ('databasing') has been attempted by a few consortia of MS investigators over the past 10 years. This approach promises to facilitate epidemiologic research in MS and investigation of the natural history of the disease and how it might be altered by long-term treatments such as interferon beta. Databasing has some advantages over clinical trials in assessing new therapies, primarily because the focus is on long-term effectiveness in an entire population rather than short-term statistical significance in a highly selected population. The limitations of databasing and strategies to overcome these limitations are addressed.
数据库是一个有组织的数据存储库。在过去10年里，一些多发性硬化症研究团队尝试在数据库中前瞻性地收集患者信息（“数据库化”）。这种方法有望促进多发性硬化症的流行病学研究以及对该疾病自然史的研究，以及它如何可能被诸如β干扰素等长期治疗所改变。在评估新疗法方面，数据库化比临床试验有一些优势，主要是因为重点在于整个人口中的长期有效性，而不是高度选择人群中的短期统计显著性。本文讨论了数据库化的局限性以及克服这些局限性的策略。
