Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40913248›Full record

ArticleJMIR medical informatics2025

Identifying Transportation Needs in Ophthalmology Clinic Notes Using Natural Language Processing: Retrospective, Cross-Sectional Study.

Lauren M Wasser, Hai-Wei Liang, Chenyu Li, Julie Cassidy, Pooja Tallapaneni, Hunter Osterhoudt, Yanshan Wang, Andrew M Williams

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in JMIR medical informatics, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing 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

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

  1. Pooled it
  2. Loss to follow-up and increase in cup-to-disc ratio among glaucoma patients in the IRIS Registry.Canadian journal of ophthalmology. Journal canadien d'ophtalmologie · 2026
    Article
  3. Review
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.

Lauren M WasserDepartment of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, 1622 Locust Street, 5th floor, Pittsburgh, PA, 15219, United States, 1 412-642-5382.ORCID 0000-0002-6093-1996
Hai-Wei LiangDepartment of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, 1622 Locust Street, 5th floor, Pittsburgh, PA, 15219, United States, 1 412-642-5382.ORCID 0009-0001-9182-1570
Chenyu LiDepartment of Health Information Management, University of Pittsburgh School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Pittsburgh, PA, United States.ORCID 0000-0001-7434-6571
Julie CassidyDepartment of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, 1622 Locust Street, 5th floor, Pittsburgh, PA, 15219, United States, 1 412-642-5382.ORCID 0009-0003-9975-6616
Pooja TallapaneniDepartment of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, 1622 Locust Street, 5th floor, Pittsburgh, PA, 15219, United States, 1 412-642-5382.ORCID 0009-0007-1117-2536
Hunter OsterhoudtDepartment of Health Information Management, University of Pittsburgh School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Pittsburgh, PA, United States.ORCID 0009-0006-5356-6595
Yanshan WangDepartment of Health Information Management, University of Pittsburgh School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Pittsburgh, PA, United States.ORCID 0000-0003-4433-7839
Andrew M WilliamsDepartment of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, 1622 Locust Street, 5th floor, Pittsburgh, PA, 15219, United States, 1 412-642-5382.ORCID 0000-0001-9789-0748

Funding

University of Pittsburgh Clinical and Translational Science InstituteUL1TR001857 · NCATS · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · PI REIS, STEVEN E · 2016 to 2025
$129.3M
Virus Production and Manipulation of Protein/Gene Expression ModuleP30EY008098 · NEI · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · PI Yuanyuan Chen · 1989 to 2026
$17.8M
NCATS NIH HHS UL1 TR001857NEI NIH HHS P30 EY008098
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Transportation insecurity is a known barrier to accessing eye care and is associated with poorer visual outcomes for patients. However, its mention is seldom captured in structured data fields in electronic health records, limiting efforts to identify and support affected patients. Free-text clinical documentation may more efficiently capture information on transportation-related challenges than structured data. Objective: In this study, we aimed to identify mention of transportation insecurity in free-text ophthalmology clinic notes using natural language processing (NLP). Methods: In this retrospective, cross-sectional study, we examined ophthalmology clinic notes of adult patients with an encounter at a tertiary academic eye center from 2016 to 2023. Demographic information and free text from clinical notes were extracted from electronic health records and deidentified for analysis. Free text was used to develop a rule-based NLP algorithm to identify transportation insecurity. The NLP algorithm was trained and validated using a gold-standard expert review, and precision, recall, and F1-scores were used to evaluate the algorithm's performance. Logistic regression evaluated associations between demographics and transportation insecurity. Results: A total of 1,801,572 clinical notes of 118,518 unique patients were examined, and the NLP algorithm identified 726 (0.6%) patients with transportation insecurity. The algorithm's precision, recall, and F1-score were 0.860, 0.960, and 0.778, respectively, indicating high agreement with the gold-standard expert review. Patients with identified transportation insecurity were more likely to be older (OR 3.01, 95% CI 2.38-3.78 for those aged ≥80 vs 18-60 y) and less likely to identify as Asian (OR 0.04, 95% CI 0-0.18 for Asian patients vs White patients). There was no difference by sex (OR 1.13, 95% CI 0.97-1.31) or between the Black and White races (OR 0.98, 95% CI 0.79-1.22). Conclusions: NLP has the potential to identify patients experiencing transportation insecurity from ophthalmology clinic notes, which may help to facilitate referrals to transportation resources.

Indexed as

Electronic Health RecordsNatural Language ProcessingOphthalmologyTransportationAdolescentAdultAgedCross-Sectional StudiesFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedRetrospective Studieselectronic health recordnatural language processingsocial determinants of healthsocial needs screeningtransportation needs

Identifiers

PMID40913248
PMCPMC12413321

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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.