Wetmore JB, Johansen KL, Gilbertson DT, Roetker NS. Symptom Trajectories in the Electronic Health Record during the Transition to Maintenance Dialysis.
Clin J Am Soc Nephrol 2023;
19:01277230-990000000-00291. [PMID:
37962893 PMCID:
PMC10843208 DOI:
10.2215/cjn.0000000000000371]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2023] [Accepted: 11/08/2023] [Indexed: 11/15/2023]
Abstract
How symptoms recorded in the electronic health record change during the transition to dialysis has not been fully explored. We used the Optum deidentified Integrated Claims-Clinical dataset to identify individuals with CKD stages 4 or 5 who transitioned to dialysis. We searched structured data elements from clinical notes, identified by natural language processing, for symptoms recorded across weekly intervals in the 6 months before and after dialysis initiation and estimated changes in the odds of a symptom being recorded with an interrupted time series analysis using segmented logistic regression. The cohort comprised 728 individuals (aged 68±13 years, 44% women, 56% White, 30% Black). Before dialysis initiation, 83% were recorded as having pain, 68% fatigue/weakness, 66% shortness of breath, 61% nausea/vomiting, and 37% difficulty concentrating. Before dialysis initiation, odds of pain being recorded increased (slope: odds ratio [OR] 1.02 per week, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.01 to 1.03); initiation was associated with a decrease (intercept change: OR 0.70, 95% CI, 0.59 to 0.82). After initiation, odds of pain were unchanged (postdialysis slope: OR 1.00 per week, 95% CI, 0.99 to 1.01), although this represented an improved trajectory relative to the predialysis period (change in slope: OR 0.98 per week, 95% CI, 0.96 to 0.99). For fatigue/weakness, odds increased before initiation (OR 1.03 per week, 95% CI, 1.02 to 1.04) but decreased on initiation (OR 0.62, 95% CI, 0.51 to 0.75) and thereafter (OR 0.98 per week, 95% CI, 0.97 to 0.99), representing a reduction in slope (OR 0.95 per week, 95% CI, 0.94 to 0.97). Patterns for shortness of breath, nausea/vomiting, and difficulty concentrating were similar to those of pain. Thus, the odds of five key symptoms being recorded in the electronic health record increased over time in the 6 months before dialysis initiation, decreased immediately on initiation, and, generally, remained unchanged in the 6 months thereafter.
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