Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42842937›Full record

Observational studyJMIR aging2026

Large Language Model-Based Identification of Subjective Cognitive Decline in Electronic Health Records Among Older Adults With Normal Cognitive Testing: Retrospective Cohort Study.

Liqin Wang, Rebecca E Amariglio, Sheril Varghese, Jiazi Tian, Diane Seger, Li Zhou, Gad A Marshall

Abstract readObservational Study
In one paragraph

Observational study in JMIR aging, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
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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

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

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.

Liqin WangDepartment of Medicine, Mass General Brigham, 399 Revolution Drive, Somerville, MA, 02145, United States, 857-282-4089.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8280-8892
Rebecca E AmariglioHarvard Medical School, 25 Shattuck Street, Boston, MA, 02115, United States.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0009-5878-8930
Sheril VargheseDepartment of Medicine, Mass General Brigham, 399 Revolution Drive, Somerville, MA, 02145, United States, 857-282-4089.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0002-7930-4623
Jiazi TianDepartment of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, United States.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0599-3438
Diane SegerResearch Information Science & Computing, Mass General Brigham, Boston, MA, United States.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9924-378X
Li ZhouDepartment of Medicine, Mass General Brigham, 399 Revolution Drive, Somerville, MA, 02145, United States, 857-282-4089.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3874-4833
Gad A MarshallHarvard Medical School, 25 Shattuck Street, Boston, MA, 02115, United States.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9096-2355

Funding

Antecedents and Outcomes of Subjective Cognitive Decline: An Electronic Health Records and Artificial Intelligence ApproachR00AG075190 · NIA · BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL · PI Liqin Wang · 2024 to 2026
$742k
NIA NIH HHS R00 AG075190
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) typically refers to self- or informant-reported decline in cognition despite the absence of objective impairment on standardized testing. Older adults with documented normal cognitive test performance provide a pragmatic anchor cohort for electronic health record (EHR)-based SCD phenotyping. However, cognitive concerns are primarily recorded in unstructured notes and are inconsistently documented, making it unclear how often and in whom concerns are captured in routine care. Objective: This study aims to operationalize EHR-based SCD phenotyping in an objectively normal-testing cohort using a large language model (LLM)-based natural language processing approach and to examine the frequency and clinical and sociodemographic correlates of cognitive concern documentation. Methods: We conducted an EHR-based observational study of patients aged 65 years or older with a first normal cognitive test recorded in EHR flowsheets between January 2019 and April 2024 in a large health care system. We developed and iteratively refined a 2-stage LLM-based natural language processing pipeline to identify documented cognitive concerns in unstructured notes during the 12 months prior to the index date, and evaluated performance against manual review. We quantified the frequency of documented concerns within this normal-testing cohort and used multivariable logistic regression to assess associations with sociodemographic factors (age, marital status, insurance, and neighborhood Area Deprivation Index), sequentially adjusting for clinical comorbidities and relevant medications. Results: Among 15,750 older adults with normal cognitive test scores, 13.8% (n=2175) had at least 1 documented cognitive concern in the prior year, captured in 1.2% (7394/605,177) of notes. On manual validation, the 2-stage pipeline (Med42-v2-8B screening followed by GPT-4o confirmation) achieved a sensitivity of 0.957, positive predictive value of 0.935, specificity of 0.985, and Conclusions: A 2-stage LLM pipeline enabled accurate identification of documented cognitive concerns consistent with SCD among older adults with normal cognitive testing. Documentation was uncommon and selectively captured by clinical and sociodemographic factors, with implications for equity and the validity of EHR-based phenotypes.

Indexed as

Cognitive DysfunctionElectronic Health RecordsAgedAged, 80 and overFemaleHumansLarge Language ModelsMaleRetrospective Studiescognitive concerndocumentationelectronic health recordslarge language modelsubjective cognitive decline

Identifiers

PMID42842937
PMCPMC13645317

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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.