Pulse Brain · Growing Health Evidence Index
Tier 3 — Observational / field trialPeer-reviewed

PheKB: a catalog and workflow for creating electronic phenotype algorithms for transportability

Jacqueline Kirby, Peter Speltz, Luke V. Rasmussen, Melissa Basford, Omri Gottesman, Peggy Peissig, Jennifer A. Pacheco, Gerard Tromp, Jyotishman Pathak, David Carrell, Stephen B. Ellis, Todd Lingren, Will K Thompson, Guergana Savova, Jonathan L. Haines, Dan M. Roden, Paul A. Harris, Joshua C. Denny

Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association · 2016

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Summary

This paper describes PheKB, a web-based platform designed to streamline the creation, validation, and sharing of electronic phenotype algorithms derived from electronic health record data across multiple institutions. As of mid-2015, the repository contained 30 finalised algorithms and 62 under development, with median PPVs remaining consistent between originating sites and secondary implementation sites (case PPV 96–97.5%, control PPV 100%), demonstrating that algorithms developed at one institution are generally transportable to others. This infrastructure addresses a critical bottleneck in precision medicine research by enabling reproducible, research-grade phenotyping at scale.

UK applicability

Whilst developed primarily within United States health systems, the PheKB platform's approach to phenotype algorithm development and validation could inform similar efforts within the UK's National Health Service and linked research databases (e.g. UK Biobank). However, direct applicability would require adaptation to UK coding systems (SNOMED-CT, Read codes) and data governance frameworks.

Key measures

Positive predictive value (PPV) for cases and controls at authoring institutions versus secondary implementation sites; algorithm component frequency (ICD codes, medications, natural language processing); number of phenotype algorithms and unique views

Outcomes reported

The study assessed the development, sharing, and validation of electronic phenotype algorithms within PheKB, measuring their transportability across multiple health care systems. Performance metrics included positive predictive values (PPVs) for case and control identification at authoring and implementation sites.

Theme
Measurement & metrics
Subject
Measurement methods & nutrient profiling
Study type
Research
Study design
Methodology report
Source type
Peer-reviewed study
Status
Published
Geography
United States
System type
Human clinical
DOI
10.1093/jamia/ocv202
Catalogue ID
BFmowc1z6w-0smv57

Topic tags

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