Optimization of the Mainzelliste software for fast privacy-preserving record linkage.

Background: Data analysis for biomedical research often requires a record linkage step to identify records from multiple data sources referring to the same person. Due to the lack of unique personal identifiers across these sources, record linkage relies on the similarity of personal data such as first and last names or birth dates. However, the exchange of such identifying data with a third party, as is the case in record linkage, is generally subject to strict privacy requirements.