NeoVault: empowering neonatal research through a neonate data hub

Abstract

Background Stability during early postnatal life in preterm infants is related to better outcomes. Although vital signs are monitored continuously in Neonatal Intensive Care Unites, this monitoring does not include all physiological parameters nor data such as movement patterns. Although there are scattered sources of data, there is no centralized data hub for neonates information. Results We have created the first neonate data hub for easy and interactive access to upload or download postural, physiological, and medical data of neonates: NeoVault. NeoVault is a platform that provides access to information through two interfaces: 1) via a Web interface (designed for medical personnel, data scientists, researchers); and 2) via a RESTful API (Application Programming Interfaces) -designed for developers-, aiming to integrate access to information into third-party applications. The web access allows searching and filtering according to specific parameters, visualization of data through graphs and images, and generation of datasets in CSV format. Access through the RESTful API is described in OpenAPI, enabling access to information from any device, facilitating it in an interoperable format. Currently, it contains nearly 800,000 postural records and 3.000 physiological data entries. The physiological and postural data stored for each neonate in NeoVault are collected through the NRP (Neonates Recording Platform) tool, which allows for the automatic and reliable collection of data. Conclusion NeoVault is an open platform for simple access to postural, physiological, and medical data of neonates that can be utilized by researchers, data scientists, medical personnel, and programmers. It enables integration into third-party applications and the generation of customized datasets.