The identification of clinically important elements within medical journal abstracts: Patient_Population_Problem, Exposure_Intervention, Comparison, Outcome, Duration and Results (PECODR)
Background Information retrieval in primary care is becoming more difficult as the volume of medical information held in electronic databases expands. The lexical structure of this information might permit automatic indexing and improved retrieval. Objective To determine the possibility of identifyi...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT
2007-01-01
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| Series: | Journal of Innovation in Health Informatics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hijournal.bcs.org/index.php/jhi/article/view/640 |
| _version_ | 1818161977955975168 |
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| author | Martin Dawes Pierre Pluye Laura Shea Roland Grad Arlene Greenberg Jian-Yun Nie |
| author_facet | Martin Dawes Pierre Pluye Laura Shea Roland Grad Arlene Greenberg Jian-Yun Nie |
| author_sort | Martin Dawes |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background Information retrieval in primary care is becoming more difficult as the volume of medical information held in electronic databases expands. The lexical structure of this information might permit automatic indexing and improved retrieval.
Objective To determine the possibility of identifying the key elements of clinical studies, namely Patient_Population_Problem, Exposure_Intervention, Comparison, Outcome, Duration and Results (PECODR), from abstracts of medical journals.
Methods We used a convenience sample of 20 synopses from the journal Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) and their matching original journal article abstracts obtained from PubMed. Three independent primary care professionals identified PECODR-related extracts of text. Rules were developed to define each PECODR element and the selection process of characters, words, phrases and sentences. From the extracts of text related to PECODR elements, potential lexical patterns that might help identify those elements were proposed and assessed using NVivo software.
Results A total of 835 PECODR-related text extracts containing 41 263 individual text characters were identified from 20 EBM journal synopses. There were 759 extracts in the corresponding PubMed abstracts containing 31 947 characters. PECODR elements were found in nearly all abstracts and synopses with the exception of duration. There was agreement on 86.6%of the extracts from the 20 EBM synopses and 85.0% on the corresponding PubMed abstracts. After consensus this rose to 98.4% and 96.9% respectively. We found potential text patterns in the Comparison, Outcome and Results elements of both EBM synopses and PubMed abstracts. Some phrases and words are used frequently and are specific for these elements in both synopses and abstracts.
Conclusions Results suggest a PECODR-related structure exists in medical abstracts and that there might be lexical patterns specific to these elements. More sophisticated computer-assisted lexical-semantic analysis might refine these results, and pave the way to automating PECODR indexing, and improve information retrieval in primary care. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T16:26:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1f5a95d930e2416a8414a5fb88ca417d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2058-4555 2058-4563 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T16:26:21Z |
| publishDate | 2007-01-01 |
| publisher | BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Innovation in Health Informatics |
| spelling | doaj.art-1f5a95d930e2416a8414a5fb88ca417d2022-12-22T00:58:42ZengBCS, The Chartered Institute for ITJournal of Innovation in Health Informatics2058-45552058-45632007-01-0115191610.14236/jhi.v15i1.640582The identification of clinically important elements within medical journal abstracts: Patient_Population_Problem, Exposure_Intervention, Comparison, Outcome, Duration and Results (PECODR)Martin DawesPierre PluyeLaura SheaRoland GradArlene GreenbergJian-Yun NieBackground Information retrieval in primary care is becoming more difficult as the volume of medical information held in electronic databases expands. The lexical structure of this information might permit automatic indexing and improved retrieval. Objective To determine the possibility of identifying the key elements of clinical studies, namely Patient_Population_Problem, Exposure_Intervention, Comparison, Outcome, Duration and Results (PECODR), from abstracts of medical journals. Methods We used a convenience sample of 20 synopses from the journal Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) and their matching original journal article abstracts obtained from PubMed. Three independent primary care professionals identified PECODR-related extracts of text. Rules were developed to define each PECODR element and the selection process of characters, words, phrases and sentences. From the extracts of text related to PECODR elements, potential lexical patterns that might help identify those elements were proposed and assessed using NVivo software. Results A total of 835 PECODR-related text extracts containing 41 263 individual text characters were identified from 20 EBM journal synopses. There were 759 extracts in the corresponding PubMed abstracts containing 31 947 characters. PECODR elements were found in nearly all abstracts and synopses with the exception of duration. There was agreement on 86.6%of the extracts from the 20 EBM synopses and 85.0% on the corresponding PubMed abstracts. After consensus this rose to 98.4% and 96.9% respectively. We found potential text patterns in the Comparison, Outcome and Results elements of both EBM synopses and PubMed abstracts. Some phrases and words are used frequently and are specific for these elements in both synopses and abstracts. Conclusions Results suggest a PECODR-related structure exists in medical abstracts and that there might be lexical patterns specific to these elements. More sophisticated computer-assisted lexical-semantic analysis might refine these results, and pave the way to automating PECODR indexing, and improve information retrieval in primary care.https://hijournal.bcs.org/index.php/jhi/article/view/640abstracting and indexinginformation storage and retrievalknowledge basesmedical subject headings (MeSH)Medlineprimary care |
| spellingShingle | Martin Dawes Pierre Pluye Laura Shea Roland Grad Arlene Greenberg Jian-Yun Nie The identification of clinically important elements within medical journal abstracts: Patient_Population_Problem, Exposure_Intervention, Comparison, Outcome, Duration and Results (PECODR) Journal of Innovation in Health Informatics abstracting and indexing information storage and retrieval knowledge bases medical subject headings (MeSH) Medline primary care |
| title | The identification of clinically important elements within medical journal abstracts: Patient_Population_Problem, Exposure_Intervention, Comparison, Outcome,
Duration and Results (PECODR) |
| title_full | The identification of clinically important elements within medical journal abstracts: Patient_Population_Problem, Exposure_Intervention, Comparison, Outcome,
Duration and Results (PECODR) |
| title_fullStr | The identification of clinically important elements within medical journal abstracts: Patient_Population_Problem, Exposure_Intervention, Comparison, Outcome,
Duration and Results (PECODR) |
| title_full_unstemmed | The identification of clinically important elements within medical journal abstracts: Patient_Population_Problem, Exposure_Intervention, Comparison, Outcome,
Duration and Results (PECODR) |
| title_short | The identification of clinically important elements within medical journal abstracts: Patient_Population_Problem, Exposure_Intervention, Comparison, Outcome,
Duration and Results (PECODR) |
| title_sort | identification of clinically important elements within medical journal abstracts patient population problem exposure intervention comparison outcome duration and results pecodr |
| topic | abstracting and indexing information storage and retrieval knowledge bases medical subject headings (MeSH) Medline primary care |
| url | https://hijournal.bcs.org/index.php/jhi/article/view/640 |
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