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Evaluation of Herbal and Dietary Supplement Resource Term Coverage
Nivedha Manohar1, Terrance J Adam1, Serguei V Pakhomov1
1Institute for Heath Informatics, University of Minnesota, MN, USA.
Studies in Health Technology and Informatics
|August 12, 2015
Summary
Many people use herbal supplements with conventional medicine, risking adverse drug interactions. This study highlights the lack of standardized terminology for supplements, hindering interaction research.
Area of Science:
- Pharmacology
- Medical Informatics
- Public Health
Background:
- Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) use is rising globally, particularly in Western countries.
- Concurrent use of herbal/dietary supplements with conventional medications is common.
- Drug-supplement interactions can cause adverse events due to antagonistic or potentiation effects.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the coverage of supplement databases by each other.
- To evaluate the integration of supplement terms within major biomedical terminologies like UMLS and RxNorm.
- To identify gaps in terminology resources for studying drug-supplement interactions.
Main Methods:
- Pilot study evaluating multiple supplement databases.
- Assessed coverage of supplement concepts by Unified Medical Language System (UMLS), MeSH, SNOMED CT, RxNorm, and NDF-RT.
- Examined NDF-RT's utility in classifying supplements.
Main Results:
- No single supplement database offered complete coverage of supplement terms.
- UMLS provided the highest coverage (54%) of supplement concepts, followed by MeSH (40%), SNOMED CT (32%), RxNorm (22%), and NDF-RT (14%).
- NDF-RT demonstrated potential for grouping supplements into drug classes.
Conclusions:
- Significant gaps exist between existing biomedical terminologies and supplement terminology.
- Developing comprehensive terminology resources for supplements is crucial.
- Improved terminology will aid in detecting and extracting drug-supplement interactions, enhancing patient safety.
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