The requirements for ontologies in medical data integration: A case study

Abstract

Evidence-based medicine is critically dependent on
\nthree sources of information: a medical knowledge
\nbase, the patient’s medical record and knowledge of
\navailable resources, including where appropriate,
\nclinical protocols. Patient data is often scattered in a
\nvariety of databases and may, in a distributed model,
\nbe held across several disparate repositories.
\nConsequently addressing the needs of an evidencebased
\nmedicine community presents issues of
\nbiomedical data integration, clinical interpretation
\nand knowledge management. This paper outlines how
\nthe Health-e-Child project has approached the
\nchallenge of requirements specification for (bio-)
\nmedical data integration, from the level of cellular
\ndata, through disease to that of patient and
\npopulation. The approach is illuminated through the
\nrequirements elicitation and analysis of Juvenile
\nIdiopathic Arthritis (JIA), one of three diseases being
\nstudied in the EC-funded Health-e-Child project.