Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37164327›Full record

ArticleApplied clinical informatics2023

Extracting Pain Care Quality Indicators from U.S. Veterans Health Administration Chiropractic Care Using Natural Language Processing.

Brian C Coleman, Dezon Finch, Rixin Wang, Stephen L Luther, Alicia Heapy, Cynthia Brandt, Anthony J Lisi

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Applied clinical informatics, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
1.9field-weighted citation impact, top 15% of its field
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

4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 8 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Moving towards the use of artificial intelligence in pain management.European journal of pain (London, England) · 2025
    Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. 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 at 4 institutions in 1 country.

Brian C ColemanPain Research, Informatics, Multimorbidities, and Education (PRIME) Center, VA Connecticut Healthcare System, West Haven, Connecticut, United States.
Dezon FinchResearch Service, James A. Haley Veterans Hospital, Tampa, Florida, United States.
Rixin WangPain Research, Informatics, Multimorbidities, and Education (PRIME) Center, VA Connecticut Healthcare System, West Haven, Connecticut, United States.
Stephen L LutherResearch Service, James A. Haley Veterans Hospital, Tampa, Florida, United States.
Alicia HeapyPain Research, Informatics, Multimorbidities, and Education (PRIME) Center, VA Connecticut Healthcare System, West Haven, Connecticut, United States.
Cynthia BrandtPain Research, Informatics, Multimorbidities, and Education (PRIME) Center, VA Connecticut Healthcare System, West Haven, Connecticut, United States.
Anthony J LisiPain Research, Informatics, Multimorbidities, and Education (PRIME) Center, VA Connecticut Healthcare System, West Haven, Connecticut, United States.
Yale University · USJames A. Haley Veterans' Hospital · USUniversity of South Florida · USVA Connecticut Healthcare System · US

Funding

Yale Clinical and Translational Science Award (U Component)UL1TR001863 · NCATS · YALE UNIVERSITY · PI John H. Krystal, LUCILA OHNO-MACHADO · 2016 to 2026
$102.9M
Identifying and Promoting Quality Low Back Pain Care by ChiropractorsK08AT011570 · NCCIH · YALE UNIVERSITY · PI COLEMAN, BRIAN CHRISTOPHER · 2022 to 2025
$720k
Women Veterans Cohort Study 2I01HX000915 · VA · VA CONNECTICUT HEALTHCARE SYSTEM · PI BRANDT, CYNTHIA A., HASKELL, SALLY · 2014 to 2019
–
Pain Research, Informatics, Multi-morbidities, and Education (PRIME) CenterI50HX001234 · VA · VA CONNECTICUT HEALTHCARE SYSTEM · PI KERNS, ROBERT D · 2015 to 2015
–
HSRD VA I01 HX000915HSRD VA I50 HX001234NCATS NIH HHS UL1 TR001863NCCIH NIH HHS K08 AT011570
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundMusculoskeletal pain is common in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), and there is growing national use of chiropractic services within the VHA. Rapid expansion requires scalable and autonomous solutions, such as natural language processing (NLP), to monitor care quality. Previous work has defined indicators of pain care quality that represent essential elements of guideline-concordant, comprehensive pain assessment, treatment planning, and reassessment.

objectiveOur purpose was to identify pain care quality indicators and assess patterns across different clinic visit types using NLP on VHA chiropractic clinic documentation.

methodsNotes from ambulatory or in-hospital chiropractic care visits from October 1, 2018 to September 30, 2019 for patients in the Women Veterans Cohort Study were included in the corpus, with visits identified as consultation visits and/or evaluation and management (E&M) visits. Descriptive statistics of pain care quality indicator classes were calculated and compared across visit types.

resultsThere were 11,752 patients who received any chiropractic care during FY2019, with 63,812 notes included in the corpus. Consultation notes had more than twice the total number of annotations per note (87.9) as follow-up visit notes (34.7). The mean number of total classes documented per note across the entire corpus was 9.4 (standard deviation [SD]  =  1.5). More total indicator classes were documented during consultation visits with (mean  =  14.8, SD  =  0.9) or without E&M (mean  =  13.9, SD  =  1.2) compared to follow-up visits with (mean  =  9.1, SD  =  1.4) or without E&M (mean  =  8.6, SD  =  1.5). Co-occurrence of pain care quality indicators describing pain assessment was high.

conclusionVHA chiropractors frequently document pain care quality indicators, identifiable using NLP, with variability across different visit types.

Indexed as

ChiropracticCohort StudiesFemaleHumansNatural Language ProcessingPainQuality Indicators, Health CareQuality of Health CareVeterans Health

Identifiers

PMID37164327
PMCPMC10411229
OpenAlexW4376131169

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.