Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a serious but variable disease, leading to difficulties analysing related studies. In a commentary published in Critical Care, Dr Andrew Maas, University Hospital Antwerp, Brussels, describes how pooling data from several sources can provide a cost-efficient way of comparing cases of TBI.

The IMPACT (International Mission on Prognosis and Clinical Trial Design in TBI) project incorporated individual patient data from a variety of study designs and has lead to increased understanding of differences in the way trauma centres deal with TBI.

But key to sharing of results is standardisation of data collection and coding, and this work by the IMPACT study group has contributed to a broader US initiative – the National Institute of Neurological Disorders & Stroke (NINDS) Common Data Elements – that will soon be releasing its draft recommendations and templates.

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Surayya Johar
In-house Editor, Critical Care