Extracting Electronic Health Record Neuroblastoma Treatment Data With High Fidelity Using the REDCap Clinical Data...

Although the International Neuroblastoma Risk Group Data Commons (INRGdc) has enabled seminal large cohort studies, the research is limited by the lack of real-world, electronic health record (EHR) treatment data. To address this limitation, we evaluated the feasibility of extracting treatment data directly from EHRs using the REDCap Clinical Data Interoperability Services (CDIS) module for future submission to the INRGdc.

Patients enrolled on the Children's Oncology Group neuroblastoma biology study ANBL00B1 (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00904241) who received care at the University of Chicago (UChicago) or the Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) after the go-live dates for the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR)-compliant EHRs were identified. Antineoplastic drug orders were extracted using the CDIS module. To validate the CDIS output, antineoplastic agents extracted through FHIR were compared with those queried through EHR relational databases (UChicago's Clinical Research Data Warehouse and VUMC's Epic Clarity database) and manual chart review.

The analytic cohort consisted of 41 patients at UChicago and 32 VUMC patients. Antineoplastic drug orders were identified in the extracted EHR records of 39 (95.1%) UChicago patients and 26 (81.3%) VUMC patients. Manual chart review confirmed that patients with missing (n = 8) or discontinued (n = 1) orders in the CDIS output did not receive antineoplastic agents during the timeframe of the study. More than 99% of the antineoplastic drug orders in the EHR relational databases were identified in the corresponding CDIS output.

Our results demonstrate the feasibility of extracting EHR treatment data with high fidelity using HL7-FHIR via REDCap CDIS for future submission to the INRGdc.