Utility of Arden Syntax for Representation of Fuzzy Logic in Clinical Quality Measures.
BACKGROUND
Prior work has established that fuzzy logic is prevalent in clinical practice guidelines and that Arden Syntax is suitable for representing clinical quality measures (CQMs). Approved since then, Arden Syntax v2.9 (2012) has formal constructs for fuzzy logic even as new formalisms are proposed to represent quality logic.


OBJECTIVE
Determine the prevalence of fuzzy logic in CQMs and assess the utility of a contemporary version of Arden Syntax for representing them.


METHODS
Linguistic variables were tabulated in the 329 Assessing Care of the Vulnerable Elderly (ACOVE-3) CQMs, and these logic statements were encoded in Arden Syntax.


RESULTS
In a total of 392 CQMs, linguistic variables occurred in 30.6%, and Arden Syntax could be used to represent these formally.


CONCLUSIONS
Fuzzy logic occurs commonly in CQMs, and Arden Syntax offers particular utility for the representations of these constructs.
Center for Biomedical Informatics & Department of Medicine, Charles Drew University, Los Angeles, CA, USA Department of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Robert A
RA
Jenders
D002140:California; D020000:Decision Support Systems, Clinical / Q000592:standards*; D017143:Fuzzy Logic; D009323:Natural Language Processing; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000592:standards; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D012660:Semantics; D012984:Software; D009626:Terminology as Topic