Text mining-based measurement of precision of polysomnographic reports as basis for intervention

Background Text mining can be applied to automate knowledge extraction from unstructured data included in medical reports and generate quality indicators applicable for medical documentation. The primary objective of this study was to apply text mining methodology for the analysis of polysomnographic medical reports in order to quantify sources of variation – here the diagnostic precision vs. the inter-rater variability – in the work-up of sleep-disordered breathing. The secondary objective was to assess the impact of a text block standardization on the diagnostic precision of polysomnography reports in an independent test set. Results Polysomnography reports of 243 laboratory-based overnight sleep investigations scored by 9 trained sleep specialists of the Sleep Center St. Gallen were analyzed using a text-mining methodology. Patterns in the usage of discriminating terms allowed for the characterization of type and severity of disease and inter-rater homogeneity. The variation introduced by the inter-rater (technician/physician) heterogeneity was found to be twice as high compared to the variation introduced by effective diagnostic information. A simple text block standardization could significantly reduce the inter-rater variability by 44%, enhance the predictive value and ultimately improve the diagnostic accuracy of polysomnography reports. Conclusions Text mining was successfully used to assess and optimize the quality, as well as the precision and homogeneity of medical reporting of diagnostic procedures – here exemplified with sleep studies. Text mining methodology could lay the ground for objective and systematic qualitative assessment of medical reports.