Improving identification of fall-related injuries in ambulatory care using statistical text mining

S.L. Luther, J.A. McCart, D.J. Berndt, B. Hahm, D. Finch, J. Jarman, P.R. Foulis, W.A. Lapcevic, R.R. Campbell, R.I. Shorr, K.M. Valencia and G. Powell-Cope

American Journal of Public Health, 2015, vol. 105, issue 6, 1168-1173

Abstract: Objectives. We determined whether statistical text mining (STM) can identify fall-related injuries in electronic health record (EHR) documents and the impact on STM models of training on documents from a single or multiple facilities. Methods. We obtained fiscal year 2007 records for Veterans Health Administration (VHA) ambulatory care clinics in the southeastern United States and Puerto Rico, resulting in a total of 26 010 documents for 1652 veterans treated for fall-related injury and 1341 matched controls. We used the results of an STM model to predict fall-related injuries at the visit and patient levels and compared them with a reference standard based on chart review. Results. STM models based on training data from a single facility resulted in accuracy of 87.5% and 87.1%, F-measure of 87.0% and 90.9%, sensitivity of 92.1% and 94.1%, and specificity of 83.6% and 77.8% at the visit and patient levels, respectively. Results from training data from multiple facilities were almost identical. Conclusions. STM has the potential to improve identification of fall-related injuries in the VHA, providing a model for wider application in the evolving national EHR system. © 2015, American Public Health Association Inc. All rights reserved.

Keywords: adult; aged; ambulatory care; data mining; electronic medical record; epidemiology; falling; government; hospital information system; human; male; middle aged; Puerto Rico; sensitivity and specificity; statistical model; statistics and numerical data; United States; very elderly, Accidental Falls; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Ambulatory Care; Ambulatory Care Information Systems; Data Mining; Electronic Health Records; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Models, Statistical; Puerto Rico; Sensitivity and Specificity; United States; United States Department of Veterans Affairs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2014.302440_0

DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2014.302440

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