How to diagnose an Adverse Event (AE)

This guide will take approximately 5 minutes to complete. 

In this guide you will learn how to answer the following questions: 

1. What are the laboratory and diagnostic procedures used for a specific AE?
2. What are the clinical parameters associated with an AE?
3. How can you distinguish between two AEs with similar clinical pictures?

Step 0: Log in 

Refer to https://med.causaly.com 

A. What are the laboratory and diagnostic procedures used for a specific AE?

Step 1: Use the Intelligent Search Module to investigate the procedures followed to diagnose the AE of interest

To explore diagnostic procedures used for a specific AE, use the Intelligent Search on the Causaly homepage. Begin your search by typing the name of a specific AE of interest and diagnosis.

When you perform an Intelligent Search, you can quickly get an overview of all the diagnostic procedures used to detect pneumonitis, visualized in a dendrogram view (Figure 2).

Figure 2: The dendrogram view when looking for diagnosis of pneumonitis. 

Step 2: Explore the results

If you see a procedure of interest in the dendrogram view, you can simply click on it to explore the evidence. A sidebar will appear with the overview of the relationship at the top, followed by the relevant article titles and the supporting evidence points (Figure 3). 

Figure 3: The sidebar with the supporting evidence when you click on a procedure of interest, in this case ‘Forced expiratory volume procedure’.

B. What are the clinical parameters associated with an AE?

You can use different filters to explore different aspects of the performed search. In order to find clinical characteristics associated with the AE of interest, use Intelligent search and replace diagnosis with clinical parameters (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Select “Clinical parameters associated with pneumonitis”.

Similar to the previous search, you can again quickly explore the results (Figure 5).

Figure 5: The sidebar with the supporting evidence when you click on a clinical attribute of interest, in this case ‘Respiratory rate’.

C. How can you distinguish between two AEs with similar clinical pictures?

Step 1: Perform a comparative analysis between the two AEs with a similar clinical picture

To identify the unique symptoms of each side effect, first access the Advanced Search module by hovering over the search tab found at the top of the page (Figure 6). 

Figure 6: Access the Advanced Search module from the Causaly homepage

In the Advanced search module, it is possible to add multiple lines to your search to perform a comparative analysis. Add one AE on the left concept box, and click on the “Add relationship” button to add the second one. You can compare up to 10 different AEs with a single search. For more information on how to perform a comparative analysis visit this guide.

Figure 7: Comparing the effects of pneumonitis and pneumonia in the Advanced Search module.

Step 2: Use filters to identify the unique  clinical symptoms for each AE

To get a clinical view, use the categories “Finding”, “Pathologic Function”, “Sign or Symptom” and “Cell or Molecular dysfunction” found under the broader category of “Disorders”(Figure 8).

Figure 8: Select the relevant filters under the disorders category

To compare the disease profiles of the two conditions, click on the Delta analysis button. Here, you can explore the interactive Venn diagram to identify common and unique aspects of pneumonitis vs pneumonia to assist you in your diagnosis (Figure 9).

Figure 9: The Delta analysis view comparing the clinical picture of pneumonitis with the one of pneumonia.

To explore the common clinical aspects, click on the intersection of A and B circle. If you would like to examine what is unique click on area A or B for pneumonitis and pneumonia, respectively.