Application of a Regenstrief RELMA V.6.6 to Map Russian Laboratory Terms to LOINC

Abstract

SummaryBackground: Manual mapping of laboratory data to Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes (LOINC) requires a major effort. Application of the LOINC mapping assistant RELMA V.6.6 can reduce the effort required for mapping. The goal of the paper is to perform a semi-automated mapping of Russian laboratory terms to LOINC.Methods: A semi-automated mapping of the 2563 terms from two clinics in Russia was performed. The first step was automatic mapping using RELMA V.6.6 and LOINC V.2.48 Russian translation by Yaroslavl state medical academy. The second step was a manual expert mapping. To evaluate the correctness of mapping all the mapped terms were reviewed by two experts.Results: The paper presents the results of semi-automatic mapping of Russian laboratory terms to LOINC. Two clinics (A and B) and a laboratory service participated in the project. The following results were achieved: mapping of 86% terms from Clinic A and 87% from Clinic B. It has to be mentioned that 99% of terms used in 2014 were mapped. In total 2398 out of 2563 were mapped.Discussion: The required effort was reasonable and the price of mapping and maintenance was considered as relatively low in comparison to manual methods.Conclusion: RELMA V.6.6 and LOINC V.2.48 offer the opportunity of a low effort LOINC mapping even for non-English languages. The study proved that the mapping effort is acceptable and mapping results are on the same level as the manual mapping.