Evaluating markers for methamphetamine use in electronic health records.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Methamphetamine is an addictive stimulant with serious health effects and its use has been increasing in the United States. Electronic health records (EHRs) capture timely information on substance use and are increasingly harnessed for public health surveillance and research. Identifying methamphetamine use in EHRs is challenging because existing metrics, such as diagnosis codes, are non-specific to methamphetamine, and clinicians record methamphetamine use in different ways. Little guidance exists about capturing methamphetamine use in EHRs.

Methods

We identified eight markers of methamphetamine use in the EHR of an integrated, safety-net hospital system. We evaluated markers based on individual or combined likelihood of accurately capturing methamphetamine use

SUBMITTER: Bacon E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12781997 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature