An attempt at building a database of children using donor human milk in Japan

A hospital-dedicated human milk bank was established in Japan at Koto Toyosu Hospital, Showa University in 2014. After a 3-year trial-and-error period, the Japanese Human Milk Bank Association was established in 2017. The supply of donor human milk (DHM) from the Japanese Human Milk Bank Association to various facilities nationwide has increased recently. However, as of 2021, there is only one human milk bank in Japan and the supply is limited. Therefore, there is an urgent need to understand the status of usage of DHM in the neonatal intensive care unit. Moreover, it is globally rare to build a database aimed at understanding the background and prognosis of all children supplied with DHM. In this paper, we have introduced the database and reported on aspects such as the salient points considered in building this database. The fundamental policy of this database included the following: (I) accessibility from the neonatal intensive care unit, (II) a simple input method, (III) reliability and continuity, (IV) safeguarding anonymity, (V) enriched search functionality, and (VI) enabling administration by the person in charge at each facility. In accordance with these six policies, the main items such as patient clinical information, DHM usage amount, and prognosis were set. In addition, the database was built to enable detailed search. The database was completed and became operational in November 2020. The input format was simplified as much as possible by adopting a selection-from-options approach. Enriched search functionality was implemented considering the function as a database in each facility. This database has enabled the proper operation of the human milk bank, and it would likely contribute further to perinatal care outcomes.