i2b2 Features
The table below highlights key capabilities of the i2b2 platform and the i2b2 Query Tool. Each feature summarizes how i2b2 helps researchers query, analyze, and visualize patient information while maintaining privacy, flexibility, and ease of use. This overview can help new users understand what i2b2 offers and how it supports data-driven biomedical research across institutions.
Robust Ontologies
i2b2 provides a powerful ontology system that organizes clinical concepts into intuitive hierarchies. Users can easily browse diagnoses, labs, medications, and other domains through the Navigate Terms tree, making it simple to locate the exact concepts needed for cohort discovery and analysis.
Drag-and-Drop Queries
i2b2’s visual query builder allows users to construct complex Boolean logic using a simple drag-and-drop workflow. Concepts from the ontology can be placed into query panels to represent AND, OR, and NOT logic, enabling sophisticated cohort definitions without writing any code.
Custom Breakdowns
i2b2 supports customizable result breakdowns, letting users automatically stratify patient counts by key variables such as age, gender, race, encounters, and more. These visual summaries help users quickly understand cohort characteristics and identify patterns within the data.
| Feature | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| Cohort-Counting / Aggregation | Returns counts of patients matching specified criteria (rather than raw patient-level data) | |
| AND / OR Logical Grouping | Allows combining criteria in groups (OR within a group, AND across groups) for flexible Boolean queries | |
| Temporal Constraints / Date Filtering | Users can restrict concepts/groups by date ranges to restrict when criteria must occur | |
| Query Types / Result Modes | Supports multiple result types: counts, sets, breakdowns by demographic attributes (e.g. age, gender, race) | |
| Drag-and-Drop Interface | Users drag terms or concepts from a “Navigate Terms” / “Find Terms” list into query panels to build queries naturally | |
| Query Reuse / History (Previous Queries / Workspace) | Users can reuse or adapt prior queries, store favorites, or drag previous queries into a new one | |
| De-Identification / Privacy Safeguards | Returns de-identified aggregate counts (with obfuscation, e.g. ±3) to protect patient privacy | |
| Breakdowns / Stratification | Ability to break down results by demographic categories (e.g. age, gender, race) to get more insight | |
| Modular & Federated Architecture (SHRINE compatibility) | i2b2 supports federated querying across multiple sites (via SHRINE) while retaining autonomy of local sites |