Rachel Myers
With the increasing use of web-based data collection tools and systems, such as the widely used REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture), there are opportunities to enhance our approach to data management, particularly related to data sharing across databases, projects, or teams. In situations requiring data sharing across studies or the need to restrict access to data to maintain blinding to treatment assignment, study teams often establish multiple project databases with different user permissions and selected data elements. For on-going data sharing, teams commonly use the manual export and import features of REDCap, which can be burdensome, time intensive, require careful attention to file formatting, and are error prone. Enabling REDCap API (Application Programming Interface) allows users to utilize SAS to securely share restricted or selected data across databases, eliminating the need for repeatedly conducting manual data exports, data management, and import of data files. In this paper, we will describe SAS code that permits the direct export of data from a REDCap database into SAS for data management and manipulation and subsequent import of selected data elements into a target REDCap database. This approach establishes a secure, replicable approach to data sharing that is particularly useful for prospective research and for projects requiring routine and on-going sharing of restricted data. Additionally, the use of the API parameters provides protection against overwriting existing data, reduces the risk of inadvertent disclosure of sensitive data, and provides a mechanism for maintaining records of all data sharing.
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