Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33084593›Full record

ArticleJMIR formative research2020

Coding Systems for Clinical Decision Support: Theoretical and Real-World Comparative Analysis.

Nicolas Delvaux, Bert Vaes, Bert Aertgeerts, Stijn Van de Velde, Robert Vander Stichele, Peter Nyberg, Mieke Vermandere

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in JMIR formative research, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Nicolas DelvauxDepartment of Public Health and Primary Care, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7335-4075
Bert VaesDepartment of Public Health and Primary Care, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5244-1930
Bert AertgeertsDepartment of Public Health and Primary Care, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1142-5402
Stijn Van de VeldeDepartment of Public Health and Primary Care, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8908-3823
Robert Vander SticheleDepartment of Medical Informatics, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9118-9651
Peter NybergDuodecim Publishing Company Ltd, Helsinki, Finland.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3688-9740
Mieke VermandereDepartment of Public Health and Primary Care, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0437-6633

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundEffective clinical decision support systems require accurate translation of practice recommendations into machine-readable artifacts; developing code sets that represent clinical concepts are an important step in this process. Many clinical coding systems are currently used in electronic health records, and it is unclear whether all of these systems are capable of efficiently representing the clinical concepts required in executing clinical decision support systems.

objectiveThe aim of this study was to evaluate which clinical coding systems are capable of efficiently representing clinical concepts that are necessary for translating artifacts into executable code for clinical decision support systems.

methodsTwo methods were used to evaluate a set of clinical coding systems. In a theoretical approach, we extracted all the clinical concepts from 3 preventive care recommendations and constructed a series of code sets containing codes from a single clinical coding system. In a practical approach using data from a real-world setting, we studied the content of 1890 code sets used in an internationally available clinical decision support system and compared the usage of various clinical coding systems.

resultsSNOMED CT and ICD-10 (International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision) proved to be the most accurate clinical coding systems for most concepts in our theoretical evaluation. In our practical evaluation, we found that International Classification of Diseases (Tenth Revision) was most often used to construct code sets. Some coding systems were very accurate in representing specific types of clinical concepts, for example, LOINC (Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes) for investigation results and ATC (Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification) for drugs.

conclusionsNo single coding system seems to fulfill all the needs for representing clinical concepts for clinical decision support systems. Comprehensiveness of the coding systems seems to be offset by complexity and forms a barrier to usability for code set construction. Clinical vocabularies mapped to multiple clinical coding systems could facilitate clinical code set construction.

Indexed as

clinical codingclinical decision support systemselectronic health recordsmedical informatics

Identifiers

PMID33084593
PMCPMC7641774

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LicenceCC BY
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.