Critical Care Research Using “Big Data”: A Reality in the Near Future

Data science can be defined as “the set of fundamental principles that support and guide the principled extraction of information and knowledge from data” [1]. Current advances in data science have resulted in a new era of “big data.” Digitalization of the health-care system and the use of big data have changed the way that we can conduct clinical research [2], because size, complexity, and dynamic nature are beyond the scope of traditional data collection and analysis methods [3]. Also, widespread implementation of electrical medical records is bringing the world of data science to the patient’s bedside; the potential benefits of big data to health care will be increasingly significant. Recently, big data and data science have been gradually infiltrating many aspects of clinical research in critical care, which could be familiar to many intensivists.