Public Data Sets

The use of data from the following list of IRB-HSR approved public data sets is not considered human subject research as long as the following two criteria are met:

  • Research will NOT involve merging any of the data sets in such a way that individuals might be identified
  • Researcher will NOT enhance the public data set with identifiable, or potentially identifiable data

If the two criteria above are met and the research will involve data from a dataset listed below NO IRB-HSR review or approval is needed. 

  • Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Registry
  • American College of Surgeons National Cancer Database
  • American College of Surgeons National Trauma Data Bank (NTDB)
  • American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP): Participant Use Data File
  • American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP):  Pediatric Use Data File
  • American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP):  Procedure Targeted Participant Use Data File
  • American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP):  Geriatric Surgery Research File
  • American Gut Project
  • American Medical Association Physician Masterfile,
  • Breast Invasive Carcinoma (British Columbia, Nature 2012)
  • Breast Invasive Carcinoma (Broad, Nature 2012)
  • Breast Invasive Carcinoma (Sanger, Nature 2012)
  • Breast Invasive Carcinoma (TCGA, Cell 2015)
  • Breast Invasive Carcinoma (TCGA, Nature 2012
  • Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS; public data only)
  • Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, State of Virginia
  • British Household Panel Survey
  • California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) Public Use File (PUF)
  • CDC Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)
  • CDC Social Vulnerability Index (SVI)
  • CDC WONDER: Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research
  • Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services: Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners by Provider
  • Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (CCSS)
  • ClinicalTrials.gov
  • Colorectal Adenocarcinoma (Genentech, Nature 2012)
  • Colorectal Adenocarcinoma (TCGA, Nature 2012)
  • Community Policing Data (for Virginia)
  • Consumer Product Safety Commission: 
    • Death Certificate Database
    • Injury and Potential Injury Incidents Database
    • In Depth Investigations Database
  • Crash Injury Research and Engineering Network (CIREN) (Public side only)
  • Database of Genomic Variants (DGV)
  • Data and Specimen Hub (DASH)
  • The Demographic and Health Surveys Program
  • German Socio-Economic Panel Survey
  • Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (H-CUP) healthcare databases 
    • The Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS)
    • The Kids’ Inpatient Database (KID)
    • The State Inpatient Databases (SID)
    • The State Ambulatory Surgery Databases (SASD)
    • The State Emergency Department Databases (SEDD)
  • Health and Retirement Study (HRS)-Public Survey Data
  • Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS)
  • Health Resources & Services Administration
    • Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program Compass Dashboard
  • HIV Prevention Trials Network D01: Vaccine Preparedness Study/Uninfected Protocol Cohort – 4 files
  • HIX Compare Health Exchange Individual Market Data
  • Immigration and Intergenerational Mobility in Metropolitan Los Angeles (IIMMLA)
  • Integrated Public Use Microdata Series – International
  • International Neuroimaging Data Sharing Initiative (INDI)
  • Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research  (ICPSR)
  • Kidney Chromophobe (TCGA, Cancer Cell 2014)
  • Kidney Renal Clear Cell Carcinoma (TCGA Nature 2013)
  • Kidney Renal Papillary Cell Carcinoma (TCGA, Provisional)
  • Laboratory of Neuroimaging (LONI) Image Data Archive (IDA)
  • Lung Adenocarcinoma (Broad, Cell 2012)
  • Lung Adenocarcinoma (TCGA, Nature 2014)
  • Luxembourg Income Study Project Archive
  • Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS)
  • Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care (MIMIC)
  • Medicare Physician Supplier Procedure Summary Master File
  • Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program (MBSAQIP) Participant Use Data File (PUF)
  • Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys     
  • NASTAD- National ADAP Monitoring Project Reports
  • National Automotive Sampling System (NASS) Crashworthiness Data System (CDS)
  • National Cancer Institute Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results Program(SEERS)
  • National Child Development Study 
    • Household Component Full-Year files
    • Household Component Event files
    • Household Component Point-in-time files
    • Pooled Linkage files
  • National Center for Health Statistics 
    • NAMCS:  National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey
    • NHANES:  National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
    • NHCS:  National Health Care Survey
    • NHIS:  National Health Interview Survey
    • NIS:  National Immunization Survey
    • LSOAs:  Longitudinal Studies of Aging
    • NSFG:  National Survey of Family Growth
    • SLAITS:  State & Local Area Integrated Telephone Survey
    • Vital Statistics:  National Vital Statistics System
  • National Center for Education Statistics
  • National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Injury Surveillance Program (ISP)
  • National Election Studies
  • National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS)
  • National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC)-Wave 1 & Wave 2
  • National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Fatality Analysis Reporting System (NHTSA-FARS)
  • National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS)
  • National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Data and Specimen Hub ( DASH)
  • National Longitudinal Survey (NLSY)
    • National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97)
    • National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79)
    • NLSY79 Children and Young Adults
    • National Longitudinal Survey of Young Women and Mature Women
    • National Longitudinal Survey of Young Men and Mature Men
  • National Poison Data System
  • National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH)
  • National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs (NS- CSHCN)
  • NCBI Short Genetic Variations Database (dbSNP)
  • NHLBI Exome Sequencing Project (ESP) Exome Variant Server
  • Northeast Ohio Community and Neighborhood Data for Organizing (NEOCANDO)
  • Parkinson’s Progressive Marker Initiative (PPMI)
  • Pathosystems Resource Integration Center (PATRIC)
  • PearlDriver Patient Record Database
  • Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS)
  • Prostate Adenocarcinoma (Broad/Cornell, Nat Genet 2012)
  • Prostate Adenocarcinoma (MSKCC, Cancer Cell 2010)
  • Prostate Adenocarcinoma (TCGA, Cell 2015)
  • Prostate Adenocarcinoma, Metastatic (Michigan, Nature 2012)
  • Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
  • Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF)
  •  Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR)
  • United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS)
  • U.S. Bureau of the Census
  • U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

 Requesting a Public Data Set be Added to the IRB Approved List

Additional data sets and archives may quality for inclusion on this list. Investigators who wish to have a specific data set or data archive considered for inclusion on this list should complete and submit the Public Data Set Nomination form to irbhsr@virginia.edu.