Medical Information Database

A collection of all kinds of information related to medical care, such as test data, prescription details, accounting records and medical fee statements (receipts) for medical care received, and cancer registries. A medical information database is a systematic structure of information related to medical care that can be retrieved using a computer or other means.

Medical information databases may be applied for other than specific purposes. Such secondary use cases, the information is digitized in such a way that the person cannot be identified, and flexible data retrieval and extraction are possible.

The National Data Base (NDB) Open Data and the National Cancer Registry are two medical information databases that can be accessed by anyone: the official name of the NDB is the "Receipt Information and Information Database for Specific Health Checkups, etc.," and some of its aggregate results are available on the Web. The National Cancer Registry is a system in which the government manages data on all people diagnosed with cancer in Japan in a single database.

The results of research using the medical information database are used for policy making, for medical treatment at universities and medical institutions, and for the development of new drugs and post-marketing studies of side effects at pharmaceutical companies. The following are specific examples of the use of the database, which plays a very important role.

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