{
  "abstract": "Background Trauma remains one of the leading causes of death and disability in the USA, yet trauma research continues to suffer from inconsistent data collection standards, hindering data aggregation and interoperability. To advance trauma science and improve patient outcomes, the Department of Defense, in collaboration with the Coalition for National Trauma Research (CNTR), aimed to identify and implement a core set of common data elements (CDEs) for universal use in trauma research.Methods A consensus-driven methodology guided by ACCORD reporting standards was employed. CNTR established a CDE Steering Committee comprising military, civilian, and academic trauma experts. Existing trauma and traumatic brain injury CDEs from the National Trauma Research Repository (NTRR) and the Federal Interagency Traumatic Brain Injury Research Informatics System were systematically compared, harmonized, and refined using informatics tools and expert feedback. The CDE Steering Committee met to evaluate 50 candidate data elements, with consensus defined as ≥80% agreement a priori.Results Nineteen committee members (9 in person, 10 virtually) participated in the survey. A final set of 10 core trauma CDEs was approved for inclusion in NTRR v2, categorized under demographics and injury characteristics. An additional 22 elements were referred to domain-specific workgroups for consideration in future basic CDE development. This process marks a critical step in improving trauma data harmonization.Discussion The adoption of these core trauma CDEs will support harmonization across trauma studies, enabling data reuse, pooled analysis, and cost-efficient trauma research. While consensus-based, this approach allows flexibility across study types but does not guarantee data harmonization. Successful implementation hinges on endorsement from funders and institutions. Future work includes developing therapeutic area-specific basic CDEs and promoting CDE adoption through training, technical support, and dissemination strategies.Level of evidence Not applicable (methods-focused study).",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Surgery, Prisma Health Upstate, Greenville, South Carolina, USA"
      ],
      "name": "John David Cull"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Coalition for National Trauma Research, San Antonio, Texas, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Pamela J Bixby"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Emergency Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Nee-Kofi Mould-Millman"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Society of Critical Care Medicine, Mount Prospect, Illinois, USA",
        "Biomedical Sciences, Critical Path Institute, Tucson, Arizona, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Smith Foster Heavner"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Coalition for National Trauma Research, San Antonio, Texas, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Nicolas W Medrano"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "BRICS, Publicis Sapient, Boston, Massachusetts, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Olga Volk"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Suresh Agarwal"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Defense Committees on Trauma, Joint Trauma System, JBSA Fort Sam Houston, Texas, USA",
        "Department of Surgery, San Antonio Military Health System, San Antonio, Texas, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Jennifer M Gurney"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "US Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, District of Columbia, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Mary J Homer"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "American College of Surgeons, Chicago, Illinois, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Avery B Nathens"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Defense Health Agency, US Department of Defense, Washington, District of Columbia, USA"
      ],
      "name": "James Boyce Phillips"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Surgery, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA",
        "Center for Military Medicine Research, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Travis Polk"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Coalition for National Trauma Research, San Antonio, Texas, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Michelle A Price"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Surgery, University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, Florida, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Carl I Schulman"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Surgery, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA",
        "Surgery, Bridgeport Hospital, Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Kevin M Schuster"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "University of Maryland Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Deborah M Stein"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Neurosurgery, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Shelly Timmons"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Emergency Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Nathan White"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [],
      "name": "The NTRR Investigator Group"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Adopting common data elements for the National Trauma Research Repository through a consensus meeting: the trauma core",
  "uid": "ac340a08-eed6-5233-936b-ed4367b1a9bd"
}