Topic types

Last updated: 19/04/2022

In many of the source systems some of the topics / keywords are categorised according to the type of data that they represent. This categorisation can be useful in searching and filtering scenarios and so is included in the MDR.
If not explicitly catergorised, the topics or keyword terms are simply left as being of type 'Keyword'. (Though if controlled terminology terms are used, categorisation may be possible through later processing even when it is not used in the source data.)

The current types of topics used within the system largely reflect the categorisations used within the two major initial source systems (Clinicaltrials.gov and PubMed).

id	name	description	type	use_in_data_entry	source
11	Keywords	Topic that was not categorised or does not fit into one of the categories listed. Often written by study or object creators.	Free-text or controlled vocabulary	false	ClinicalTrials.gov
12	Chemical / agent	One or more chemicals or biological agents, relevant to the study, including as interventions under test.	Free-text or controlled vocabulary	true	ClinicalTrials.gov
13	Condition	Illness or condition that is being targeted within study.	Free-text or controlled vocabulary	true	ClinicalTrials.gov
14	Design	Aspect of study design methodology.	Free-text or controlled vocabulary	true	PubMed
15	Outcome	Outcome measure or outcome produced within the study.	Free-text or controlled vocabulary	true	PubMed
16	Geographic	A geographical entity that was the particular focus or limit of the study.	Free-text or controlled vocabulary	true	PubMed
17	Organism	Organism, e.g. particular bacterium, that was targeted during the study.	Free-text or controlled vocabulary	true	PubMed
18	Treatment protocol	The name of a particular treatment regime / protocol, e.g. a chemotherapy regime.	Free-text	true	PubMed
19	Subject characteristics	Descriptive term pertaining to the subject group of the study.	Free-text	true	PubMed
0	not yet known	Dummy value supplied by default on entity creation	not applicable	false	ECRIN