Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Dec;39(3):578-585.
doi: 10.1007/s12028-023-01795-1. Epub 2023 Aug 22.

Common Data Elements for Disorders of Consciousness: Recommendations from the Electrophysiology Working Group

Elizabeth E Carroll  1   2 , Caroline Der-Nigoghossian  2 , Ayham Alkhachroum  3 , Brian Appavu  4   5 , Emily Gilmore  6   7 , Julie Kromm  8   9 , Benjamin Rohaut  10 , Mario Rosanova  11 , Jacobo Diego Sitt  12 , Jan Claassen  13   14 ; Curing Coma Campaign and its Contributing Members
Collaborators, Affiliations

Common Data Elements for Disorders of Consciousness: Recommendations from the Electrophysiology Working Group

Elizabeth E Carroll et al. Neurocrit Care. 2023 Dec.

Erratum in

Abstract

Background: Electroencephalography (EEG) has long been recognized as an important tool in the investigation of disorders of consciousness (DoC). From inspection of the raw EEG to the implementation of quantitative EEG, and more recently in the use of perturbed EEG, it is paramount to providing accurate diagnostic and prognostic information in the care of patients with DoC. However, a nomenclature for variables that establishes a convention for naming, defining, and structuring data for clinical research variables currently is lacking. As such, the Neurocritical Care Society's Curing Coma Campaign convened nine working groups composed of experts in the field to construct common data elements (CDEs) to provide recommendations for DoC, with the main goal of facilitating data collection and standardization of reporting. This article summarizes the recommendations of the electrophysiology DoC working group.

Methods: After assessing previously published pertinent CDEs, we developed new CDEs and categorized them into "disease core," "basic," "supplemental," and "exploratory." Key EEG design elements, defined as concepts that pertained to a methodological parameter relevant to the acquisition, processing, or analysis of data, were also included but were not classified as CDEs.

Results: After identifying existing pertinent CDEs and developing novel CDEs for electrophysiology in DoC, variables were organized into a framework based on the two primary categories of resting state EEG and perturbed EEG. Using this categorical framework, two case report forms were generated by the working group.

Conclusions: Adherence to the recommendations outlined by the electrophysiology working group in the resting state EEG and perturbed EEG case report forms will facilitate data collection and sharing in DoC research on an international level. In turn, this will allow for more informed and reliable comparison of results across studies, facilitating further advancement in the realm of DoC research.

Keywords: Coma; Common data elements; Consciousness; Electrophysiology.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest

Minority shareholder in iCE Neurosystems (J.C.), Minority shareholder of Intrinsic Powers Inc., a spin-off of the University of Milan, Milan, Italy (MR). The remaining authors have no conflicts of interest.

References

    1. Loomis AL, Harvey EN, Hobart G. Potential rhythms of the cerebral cortex during sleep. Science. 1935;81(2111):597–8. 10.1126/science.81.2111.597. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Schomer DL, da Silva FHL. Niedermeyer’s electroencephalography: basic principles, clinical applications, and related fields: sixth edition. In: Schomer DL, Lopes da Silva FH (eds) Wolters Kluver/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. 2011. 10.1111/j.1468-1331.2011.03406.x - DOI
    1. Comanducci A, Boly M, Claassen J, et al. Clinical and advanced neurophysiology in the prognostic and diagnostic evaluation of disorders of consciousness: review of an IFCN-endorsed expert group. Clin Neurophysiol. 2020;131(11):2736–65. 10.1016/j.clinph.2020.07.015. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Giacino JT, Schnakers C, Rodriguez-Moreno D, Kalmar K, Schiff N, Hirsch J. Behavioral assessment in patients with disorders of consciousness: gold standard or fool’s gold? Prog Brain Res. 2009;177:33–48. 10.1016/S0079-6123(09)17704-X. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Kondziella D, Bender A, Diserens K, et al. European Academy of Neurology guideline on the diagnosis of coma and other disorders of consciousness. Eur J Neurol. 2020;27(5):741–56. 10.1111/ene.14151. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources