Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 27, 2025
TBase - an Integrated Electronic Health Record and Research Database for Kidney Transplant Recipients
Published on: April 13, 2021
Development and validation of a self-updating gout register from electronic health records data
Nils Bürgisser1,2,3, Denis Mongin4,3, Samia Mehouachi4,5
1Division of Rheumatology, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland nils.burgisser@hug.ch.
Insights
An automated gout registry using electronic health records (EHRs) is effective for tracking gout cases. The study found a significant decrease in gout diagnosis rates since the COVID-19 pandemic, indicating potential underdiagnosis.
Area of Science:
- Rheumatology
- Health Informatics
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Gout management requires accurate patient identification and monitoring.
- Electronic Health Records (EHRs) offer a potential data source for creating disease registries.
- Developing automated methods for disease surveillance can improve public health insights.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate an automatic gout registry using EHR data.
- To assess the feasibility and accuracy of identifying gout patients through EHR criteria.
- To analyze gout incidence trends and patient characteristics.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of EHR data from adult patients (2013-2022) at a tertiary academic hospital.
- Inclusion criteria: ICD-10 gout diagnosis, urate-lowering therapy, crystal identification, or specific report terms.
- Validation through chart review to determine positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV).
Main Results:
- A gout registry of 5138 patients was created with high PPV (92.4%) and NPV (94.3%).
- Gout incidence was 2.9 per 1000 person-years, with a 30% decrease observed post-COVID-19 pandemic.
- Gout patients were older, predominantly male, overweight, and had multiple comorbidities.
Conclusions:
- An automated EHR-based gout registry is a feasible and valid tool for gout management evaluation.
- The registry identified a notable underdiagnosis or under-reporting of gout since the COVID-19 pandemic.
- This tool can aid in improving gout care and understanding disease trends.
Objective:
To develop an automatic gout register from electronic health records (EHRs) data.
Methods:
We analysed the EHR of all patients >18 years old from a tertiary academic hospital (2013-2022) based on six criteria: International Classification of Diseases 10 gout diagnosis, urate-lowering therapy prescription, monosodium urate crystals in joint aspiration and gout-related terms in problem lists, clinical or imaging reports. We assessed the positive and negative predictive value (PPV and NPV) of the query by chart reviews.
Results:
Of 2 110 902 outpatients and inpatients, 10 289 had at least one criterion for gout. The combination of joint aspiration OR diagnostic in the problem list OR≥2 other criteria created a register of 5138 patients, with a PPV of 92.4% (95% CI 88.5% to 95.0%) and an NPV of 94.3% (95% CI 91.9% to 96.0%). PPV and NPV were similar among outpatients and inpatients. Incidence was 2.9 per 1000 person-year and dropped by 30% from the COVID-19 pandemic onward. Patients with gout were on average 71.2 years old (SD 14.9), mainly male (76.5%), overweight (69.5%) and polymorbid (mean number of comorbidities of 3, IQR 1-5). More than half (57.4%) had received a urate-lowering treatment, 6.7% had a gout that led to a hospitalisation or ≥2 flares within a year and 32.9% received a rheumatology consultation.
Conclusion:
An automatic EHR-based gout register is feasible, valid and could be used to evaluate and improve gout management. Interestingly, the register uncovered a marked underdiagnosis or under-reporting of gout since the COVID-19 pandemic.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
01:19Purpose of Health Records II
01:30Methods of Documentation VII: EMR
01:25Errors occurring during blood pressure monitoring
Several factors...
01:03Data Validation
Nursing assessment guides are generally based on holistic models rather than medical...
01:11Purpose of Health Records I
Here's a breakdown of how health records serve these purposes:
01:30Health Information Technology and Healthcare Information System
Health Information Technology, commonly called HIT, integrates advanced information systems and technology in healthcare settings. Its primary functions include: