Artikel
Attitude towards consent-free research use of personal medical data in the general German population
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Autoren
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Gesine Richter
- Institute of Experimental Medicine, Division of Biomedical Ethics, Kiel University, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Kiel, Germany; German Center for Lung Research (DZL), Airway Research Center North (ARCN), Borstel, Germany
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Nourane Trigui
- Institute of Medical Informatics und Statistics, Kiel University, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Kiel, Germany
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Amke Caliebe
- Institute of Medical Informatics und Statistics, Kiel University, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Kiel, Germany
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Michael Krawczak
- Institute of Medical Informatics und Statistics, Kiel University, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Kiel, Germany
| Veröffentlicht: | 6. September 2024 |
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Gliederung
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Background: The design of appropriate consent procedures for the secondary use of personal health data is a key concern of current medical research. In Germany, the concept of ‘data donation’ has recently come into focus, defined as a legal entitlement to the research use of personal medical data without prior consent, combined with an easy-to-exercise right of the data subjects to opt-out.
Methods: Standardized online interviews of 3,013 individuals, representative of the German online population, were conducted in August 2022 to determine their attitude towards data donation for medical research.
Results: A majority of participants supported a consent-free data donation regulation, both for publicly funded (85.1%) and for private medical research (66.4%). Major predictors of a positive attitude towards data donation included (i) sufficient appreciation of the respective kind of research (i.e. public or private), (ii) a reciprocity attitude that patients who benefit from research have a duty to support research, and (iii) sufficient trust in data protection and data control.
Conclusion: People’s attitude towards data donation to medical research is generally positive in Germany and depends upon factors that can be curbed by legislation and internal rules of procedure. Worthy of note, designing data donation in the form of an opt-out regulation does not necessarily mean that the paradigm of informedness has to be abandoned. Rather the process of information provision must be shifted towards the creation of basic knowledge in the general population about the risks and benefits of data-intensive medical research (‘health data literacy’).
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
The authors declare that an ethics committee vote is not required.
The contribution has already been published: [1]
References
- 1.
- Richter G, Trigui N, Caliebe A, Krawczak M. Attitude towards consent-free research use of personal medical data in the general German population. Heliyon. 2024 Mar 11;10(6):e27933. DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e27933
