JBJS is pleased to announce the publication of the JBJS Supplement on Large Database and Registry Research in Joint Arthroplasty and Orthopaedics. The supplement was developed following an October 2021 symposium that explored “the power and potential” of large databases and their selection and use in orthopaedic research.
Registries (including national, state, regional, and institutional), large payor administrative databases, and specialty or procedure-specific databases are among large databases being utilized to address a wide range of research questions in orthopaedics.
“The idea behind the symposium was that a systematic evaluation of the state of large-database research in orthopaedic surgery could provide much valuable information to the many stakeholders who interact with these databases,” notes the related editorial. These stakeholders include researchers, surgeons who read orthopaedic research, and journal reviewers and editors who evaluate research.
The symposium was sponsored by an NIH/NIAMS P30 Center Grant (Principal Investigator, Daniel Berry, MD, and Co-Principal Investigator, David Lewallen, MD), The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, and the Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation (OREF). Important symposium input also came from Journal of Arthroplasty Editor John Callaghan, MD.
The 10 papers in the supplement may help guide readers in their approach to orthopaedic studies employing large databases. The papers evaluate:
- Databases commonly used in orthopaedic surgery
- What to look for in a big database
- Best and poor uses of a large database
- Use of “big data” in cost-effectiveness research
- Strengths and weaknesses of large databases
- Linkage between databases
- How natural language processing, machine learning, and artificial intelligence may be used to mine data from formal and less formal data sources
The supplement is freely available for a limited time at JBJS.org: JBJS Supplement on Large Database and Registry Research in Joint Arthroplasty and Orthopaedics
Additional insights are shared by Drs. Daniel Berry, Hilal Maradit Kremers, and David Lewallen, who were special guests on a recent episode of the OrthoJOE podcast. Access the OrthoJOE conversation led by co-hosts Mo Bhandari and Marc Swiontkowski.