Derivation and validation of a computable phenotype for acute decompensated heart failure in hospitalized patients

Background With higher adoption of electronic health records at health-care centers, electronic search algorithms (computable phenotype) for identifying acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) among hospitalized patients can be an invaluable tool to enhance data abstraction accuracy and efficacy in order to improve clinical research accrual and patient centered outcomes. We aimed to derive and validate a computable phenotype for ADHF in hospitalized patients. Methods We screened 256, 443 eligible (age > 18 years and with prior research authorization) individuals who were admitted to Mayo Clinic Hospital in Rochester, MN, from January 1, 2006, through December 31, 2014. Using a randomly selected derivation cohort of 938 patients, several iterations of a free-text electronic search were developed and refined. The computable phenotype was subsequently validated in an independent cohort 100 patients. The sensitivity and specificity of the computable phenotype were compared to the gold standard (expert review of charts) and International Classification of Diseases-9 (ICD-9) codes for Acute Heart Failure. Results In the derivation cohort, the computable phenotype achieved a sensitivity of 97.5%, and specificity of 100%, whereas ICD-9 codes for Acute Heart Failure achieved a sensitivity of 47.5% and specificity of 96.7%. When all Heart Failure codes (ICD-9) were used, sensitivity and specificity were 97.5 and 86.6%, respectively. In the validation cohort, the sensitivity and specificity of the computable phenotype were 100 and 98.5%. The sensitivity and specificity for the ICD-9 codes (Acute Heart Failure) were 42 and 98.5%. Upon use of all Heart Failure codes (ICD-9), sensitivity and specificity were 96.8 and 91.3%. Conclusions Our results suggest that using computable phenotype to ascertain ADHF from the clinical notes contained within the electronic medical record are feasible and reliable. Our computable phenotype outperformed ICD-9 codes for the detection of ADHF.