BACKGROUND
Healthcare is not obtaining the full potential of the secondary use of health data, because of – among other issues - concerns about the quality of the data being used. The transition to digital health led to a substantial increase in the quantity of health data, but not to the same extent to an increase in the quality of health data.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this review is to offer a comprehensive overview of the existing frameworks of data quality dimensions and assessment methods for secondary use of health data.
METHODS
A review of reviews was conducted including reviews describing frameworks of data quality dimensions and of their assessment methods, specifically from a secondary use perspective. Reviews were excluded if they were not related to the healthcare ecosystem, lacked relevant information related to our research objective and if published in languages other than English.
RESULTS
A total of 22 reviews were included; comprising 22 frameworks, with 23 different terms for dimensions, and 62 definitions of dimensions. Only 8 reviews mentioned assessment methods.
CONCLUSIONS
The findings in this review revealed a lack of consensus in the literature regarding terminology, definitions, and assessment methods for data quality dimensions. This creates ambiguity and difficulties in developing specific assessment methods. Future research should propose specific requirements for data quality dimensions at data collection and every data handling step, depending on the use case, to establish a comprehensive view on the quality of health data.