A remarkably facile automated numerical data extraction tool from oscilloscope screen snapshots

ABSTRACTObjectives:The 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) can capture valuable information in the prehospital setting. By the time patients are assessed by an emergency department (ED) physician, their symptoms and any ECG changes may have resolved. We sought to determine whether the prehospital electrocardiogram (pECG) could influence ED management and how often the pECG was available to and reviewed by the ED physician.Methods:A retrospective medical record review was conducted on a random sample of patients ≥ 18 years who had a prehospital 12-lead ECG and were transported to one of two tertiary care centres. Data were recorded onto a standardized data extraction tool. Three investigators independently compared the pECG to the first ECG obtained in the ED after patient arrival at the hospital. Any abnormalities not present on the ED ECG were adjudicated to ascertain whether they had the potential to change ED management.Results:Of 115 ambulance runs selected, 47 had no pECG attached to the ambulance call record (ACR) and another 5 were excluded (one ST elevation myocardial infarction, one cardiac arrest, three ACR missing). Of the 63 pECGs reviewed, 16 (25%) showed changes not apparent on the initial ED ECG (κ = 0.83; 95% CI 0.74–0.93), of which 12 had differences that might influence ED management (κ = 0.76; 95% CI 0.72–0.82). Only one hospital record contained a copy of the pECG, despite the current protocol that paramedics print two copies of the pECG on arrival in the ED (one copy for the ACR and one to be handed to the medical personnel). None of 110 ED charts documented that the pECG was reviewed by the ED physician.Conclusion:The pECG has the potential to influence ED management. Improvement in paramedic and physician documentation and a formal pECG handover process appear necessary.

Download Full-text

The development and evaluation of an online application to assist in the extraction of data from graphs for use in systematic reviews

Wellcome Open Research ◽

10.12688/wellcomeopenres.14738.2 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

pp. 157

Author(s):

Fala Cramond ◽

Alison O'Mara-Eves ◽

Lee Doran-Constant ◽

Andrew SC Rice ◽

Malcolm Macleod ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Systematic Reviews ◽

Statistical Data ◽

Data Extraction ◽

Evidence Synthesis ◽

Online Application ◽

Web Based ◽

Graphical Data ◽

Data Extraction Tool ◽

Increase In Accuracy

Background: The extraction of data from the reports of primary studies, on which the results of systematic reviews depend, needs to be carried out accurately. To aid reliability, it is recommended that two researchers carry out data extraction independently. The extraction of statistical data from graphs in PDF files is particularly challenging, as the process is usually completely manual, and reviewers need sometimes to revert to holding a ruler against the page to read off values: an inherently time-consuming and error-prone process. Methods: To mitigate some of the above problems we integrated and customised two existing JavaScript libraries to create a new web-based graphical data extraction tool to assist reviewers in extracting data from graphs. This tool aims to facilitate more accurate and timely data extraction through a user interface which can be used to extract data through mouse clicks. We carried out a non-inferiority evaluation to examine its performance in comparison to standard practice. Results: We found that the customised graphical data extraction tool is not inferior to users’ prior preferred current approaches. Our study was not designed to show superiority, but suggests that there may be a saving in time of around 6 minutes per graph, accompanied by a substantial increase in accuracy. Conclusions: Our study suggests that the incorporation of this type of tool in online systematic review software would be beneficial in facilitating the production of accurate and timely evidence synthesis to improve decision-making.

Download Full-text

Protocol for data extraction: how real-world data have been used in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence appraisals of cancer therapy

BMJ Open ◽

10.1136/bmjopen-2021-055985 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. e055985

Author(s):

Jiyeon Kang ◽

John Cairns

Keyword(s):

Real World ◽

Data Extraction ◽

Systematic Research ◽

London School ◽

Real World Data ◽

World Data ◽

Data Extraction Tool ◽

Potential Benefits ◽

Critical Components ◽

Randomised Controlled

IntroductionDue to the limitations of relying on randomised controlled trials, the potential benefits of real-world data (RWD) in enriching evidence for health technology assessment (HTA) are highlighted. Despite increased interest in RWD, there is limited systematic research investigating how RWD have been used in HTA. The main purpose of this protocol is to extract relevant data from National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) appraisals in a transparent and reproducible manner in order to determine how NICE has incorporated a broader range of evidence in the appraisal of oncology medicines.Methods and analysisThe appraisals issued between January 2011 and May 2021 are included following inclusion criteria. The data extraction tool newly developed for this research includes the critical components of economic evaluation. The information is extracted from identified appraisals in accordance with extraction rules. The data extraction tool will be validated by a second researcher independently. The extracted data will be analysed quantitatively to investigate to what extent RWD have been used in appraisals. This is the first protocol to enable data to be extracted comprehensively and systematically in order to review the use of RWD.Ethics and disseminationThis study is approved by the Ethics Committee of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine on 14 November 2019 (17315). Results will be published in peer-reviewed journals.

Download Full-text

Effects of natural environment on mental health: an umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses

10.31234/osf.io/4r3mh ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Mahbub Hossain ◽

Abida Sultana ◽

Ping Ma ◽

Qiping Fan ◽

Rachit Sharma ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Systematic Reviews ◽

Natural Environment ◽

Data Extraction ◽

Experimental Studies ◽

Mental Wellbeing ◽

Umbrella Review ◽

Data Extraction Tool ◽

Study Characteristics ◽

Meta Analyses

Objectives: To synthesize the evidence on the effects of exposure to natural environment on mental health to inform future policymaking, practice, and research. Methods: A systematic search of nine major databases and additional sources were conducted using relevant keywords for the natural environment and mental health till November 2019. We included systematic reviews or meta-analyses reporting any measures of associations between the natural environment and mental health. The data on study characteristics and research findings were extracted using the JBI data extraction tool and synthesized narratively.Results: Twenty reviews were included in this umbrella review reporting both correlational and experimental studies. Among diverse population groups, the exposure to the natural environment was associated with improvements in depressive symptoms, anxiety, mood disorders, stress, cognitive and emotional functions, affect, happiness, and overall mental wellbeing. Conclusions: The findings of this review inform beneficial mental health outcomes associated with exposure to the natural environment. This umbrella review suggests collaborative policymaking, advanced research, and evidence-based practice protecting the natural environment and improving mental health across populations.

Download Full-text

Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Prevalence of Coeliac Disease in Women with Infertility

Nutrients ◽

10.3390/nu11081950 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (8) ◽

pp. 1950 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Mercedes Castaño ◽

Rubén Gómez-Gordo ◽

David Cuevas ◽

Concepción Núñez

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Coeliac Disease ◽

Data Extraction ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Numerical Data ◽

Current Data ◽

Small Sample ◽

Unexplained Infertility ◽

Intestinal Biopsy ◽

Sample Sizes

We aimed to estimate the seroprevalence and the prevalence of coeliac disease (CD) in women with reproductive problems. A systematic review of English published articles until June 2019 was performed in PubMed and Scopus using the terms: (infertility and (coeliac disease OR gluten) OR (miscarriage and (coeliac disease OR gluten) OR (abortion and (coeliac disease OR gluten). All articles showing numerical data of anti-transglutaminase type 2 or anti-endomisium antibodies, or intestinal biopsy information were included. The study group comprised women with overall infertility, unexplained infertility, or recurrent spontaneous abortions. Two authors independently performed data extraction using a predefined data sheet. The initial search yielded 310 articles, and 23 were selected for data extraction. After meta-analysis, the pooled seroprevalence was very similar for overall and unexplained infertility, with a pooled proportion of around 1.3%–1.6%. This implies three times higher odds of having CD in infertility when compared to controls. The pooled prevalence could not be accurately calculated due to the small sample sizes. Further studies with increased sample sizes are necessary before giving specific recommendations for CD screening in women with reproductive problems, but current data seem to support a higher risk of CD in these women.

Download Full-text

The clinical effect of hippotherapy on gross motor function of children with Cerebral Palsy

South African Journal of Physiotherapy ◽

10.4102/sajp.v69i2.321 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 69 (2) ◽

Author(s):

K Litlle ◽

N Nel ◽

V Ortell ◽

H Van Wyk ◽

M Badenhorst ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cerebral Palsy ◽

Motor Function ◽

Clinical Effect ◽

Data Extraction ◽

Bibliographic Databases ◽

Gross Motor ◽

Gross Motor Function ◽

Data Extraction Tool ◽

Added Benefit ◽

Mean Differences

Background: Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common cause of physical disability affecting gross motor function (GMF ) in early childhood. Hippotherapy is a treatment approach aimed at improving GMF in children with CP. Several systematic reviews have been published showing an improvement in Dimension E of the Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM ) after hippotherapy. However, these reviews failed to evaluate the clinical effect of hippotherapy in improving GMF in children with CP.Objective: To critically appraise the evidence of hippotherapy to ascertain whether it is a clinically meaningful approach for children with CP.Methodology: Five computerised bibliographic databases were searched. Predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria were set. The PEDro scale was used to assess the quality of the studies. A revised JBI Data extraction tool was used to extract data from the selected articles. Revman© Review Manager Software was used to create forest plots for comparisons of results.Results: All studies used the GMFM as an outcome measure for gross motor function. The added benefit of hippotherapy is a minimum 1% and a maximum 7% increase on the GMFM scores. However, all 95% confidence intervals (CI ) around all the mean differences were insignificant.Conclusion: The clinical effect of hippotherapy on the GMF of children with CP is small. Larger studies are required to provide evidence of the effect of hippotherapy within this population.

Download Full-text