Clinical care site data integration reveals heterogeneity in EHR phenotyping and healthcare utilization patterns
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Objective
Genomic research using electronic health record (EHR)-linked biobanks is influenced by heterogeneity in the clinical settings (care sites) where encounters occur. We developed two methods leveraging care site data: ClinicScan identifies where phenotype documentation occurs, and ClinicWAS identifies specialty utilization patterns associated with a risk factor.
Materials and Methods
We extracted care sites for each clinical encounter at an academic medical center and mapped each to a clinical specialty. ClinicScan summarizes the specialty distribution of a user-specified diagnosis; ClinicWAS fits a logistic regression for each care site to identify specialty encounters associated with a user-specified risk factor. We applied ClinicScan to depression to test whether requiring a psychiatry encounter strengthened the association between a polygenic risk score (PRS) and a depression phenotype, and ClinicWAS to a coronary heart disease (CHD) PRS to identify sites enriched for high-risk patients.
Results
Across 64,983,257 encounters, 2,544 care sites mapped to 57 specialties. Most depression diagnoses occurred in primary care (30.3%) and psychiatry (19.8%). Requiring a psychiatry encounter strengthened the PRS-phenotype association (OR=1.30, 95% CI 1.26–1.35) versus two or more diagnosis codes alone (OR=1.21, 95% CI 1.19–1.24). CHD ClinicWAS identified 19 associated care sites, including 5 catheterization labs. Men and women with high genetic risk (PRS≥95th percentile) underwent catheterization for CHD 3.1 (1.5–4.6) and 4.6 (2.5–6.7) years earlier than normal-risk participants, respectively.
Discussion
Care site data capture phenotype heterogeneity that otherwise distorts EHR-based phenotypes and obscures high-risk subpopulations.
Conclusion
Clinical care site data are an under-utilized resource in EHR-linked biobanks.
