Term of the Day

Natural History Study

A natural history study is a preplanned intended to track the course of the disease. Its purpose is to identify demographic, genetic, environmental, and other variables (e.g., treatment modalities, concomitant medications) that correlate with the disease’s development and outcomes. Natural history studies are likely to include patients receiving the current standard of care and/or emergent care, which may alter some manifestations of the disease.

S

Security of Processing

Security of processing refers to the appropriate technical and organisational measures that the controller or the processor have to implement to ensure an appropriate level of security in relation to the risks represented by the processing and the nature of the personal data to be protected.

An example of such measure, provided in article 33 GDPR, could be the pseudonymisation and encryption of data, where appropriate.