Protecting patient privacy in tabular synthetic health data: a regulatory perspective
Synthetic tabular data generation (SDG) is increasingly important in healthcare research and innovation while preserving patients' privacy. However, ethical concerns remain, primarily over residual privacy vulnerability and insufficient oversight. This review analyzes the only published SDG regulatory guidelines to date, from United Kingdom, Singapore, and South Korea. All emphasize privacy, acknowledging synthetic data is not inherently free from disclosure risks. Thresholds for sufficiently low risk are yet to be determined.
Authors
- Anthony K. H. Tung (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5125-855X)
- Haksoo Ko (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6968-774X)
- Lisa Pilgram (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1020-0650)
- Khaled El Emam (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3325-4149)
Institutions
- Seoul National University (KR)
- University of Ottawa (CA)
- Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CA)
- British High Commission Singapore (SG)
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- npj Digital Medicine
- Published
- 2025-11-28
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-025-02112-0
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Ethics in Clinical Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.76
Funders
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Canada Research Chairs
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada