Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34208317›Full record

ArticleInternational journal of environmental research and public health2021

Estimating the Burden of Alcohol on Ambulance Callouts through Development and Validation of an Algorithm Using Electronic Patient Records.

Francesco Manca, Jim Lewsey, Ryan Waterson, Sarah M Kernaghan, David Fitzpatrick, Daniel Mackay, Colin Angus, Niamh Fitzgerald

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Article in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
–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

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed.

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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

8 authors.

Francesco MancaInstitute of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK.
Jim LewseyInstitute of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-3811-8165
Ryan WatersonBusiness Intelligence Department, Scottish Ambulance Service, Edinburgh EH12 9EB, UK.
Sarah M KernaghanBusiness Intelligence Department, Scottish Ambulance Service, Edinburgh EH12 9EB, UK.
David FitzpatrickFaculty of Health Sciences & Sport, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, UK.
Daniel MackayInstitute of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK.
Colin AngusSchool of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK.ORCID 0000-0003-0529-4135
Niamh FitzgeraldFaculty of Health Sciences & Sport, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-3643-8165

Funding

Chief Scientist Office HIPS 18/57Chief Scientist Office HIPS/18/57
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAlcohol consumption places a significant burden on emergency services, including ambulance services, which often represent patients' first, and sometimes only, contact with health services. We aimed to (1) improve the assessment of this burden on ambulance services in Scotland using a low-cost and easy to implement algorithm to screen free-text in electronic patient record forms (ePRFs), and (2) present estimates on the burden of alcohol on ambulance callouts in Scotland.

methodsTwo paramedics manually reviewed 5416 ePRFs to make a professional judgement of whether they were alcohol-related, establishing a gold standard for assessing our algorithm performance. They also extracted all words or phrases relating to alcohol. An automatic algorithm to identify alcohol-related callouts using free-text in EPRs was developed using these extracts.

resultsOur algorithm had a specificity of 0.941 and a sensitivity of 0.996 in detecting alcohol-related callouts. Applying the algorithm to all callout records in Scotland in 2019, we identified 86,780 (16.2%) as alcohol-related. At weekends, this percentage was 18.5%.

conclusionsAlcohol-related callouts constitute a significant burden on the Scottish Ambulance Service. Our algorithm is significantly more sensitive than previous methods used to identify alcohol-related ambulance callouts. This approach and the resulting data have potential for the evaluation of alcohol policy interventions as well as for conducting wider epidemiological research.

Indexed as

Electronic Health RecordsEmergency Medical ServicesAlgorithmsAmbulancesHumansScotlandalgorithm developmentambulance calloutsburden of alcoholparamedicsroutine health recordsScotland

Identifiers

PMID34208317
PMCPMC8296189

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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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.