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Medication-indication knowledge bases: a systematic review and critical appraisal
Hojjat Salmasian1, Tran H Tran2, Herbert S Chase3
1Department of Biomedical Informatics, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA hs2610@columbia.edu.
Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA
|September 4, 2015
Summary
This study compared seven public knowledge bases (KBs) for medication-indication data. Findings reveal significant gaps in scope, granularity, and support for complex information, highlighting needs for future research in structured medication data.
Area of Science:
- Pharmacology
- Health Informatics
- Knowledge Representation
Background:
- Structured medication-indication information is crucial for clinical decision support and appropriate medication use.
- Existing resources often contain this data in unstructured free text, limiting accessibility and utility.
- Numerous public knowledge bases (KBs) have been developed, but a comparative analysis was lacking.
Purpose of the Study:
- To systematically review and compare existing public medication-indication knowledge bases.
- To critically appraise these resources regarding their scope and ability to represent complex indication information.
Main Methods:
- A systematic literature review was performed to identify relevant medication-indication KBs.
- Identified KBs were critically appraised based on scope and support for complex indication details.
Main Results:
- Seven KBs containing medication-indication data were identified.
- Significant variations were observed in scope, coverage of on/off-label indications, data sources, and terminology.
- Most KBs exhibited limitations in representing indication granularity, therapy duration, primary treatment choices, and co-medications/comorbidities.
Conclusions:
- This is the first direct comparison of public medication-indication KBs.
- Identified gaps in current resources provide a foundation for future research and development in this area.
