DrugSet: A validated R Shiny application for reproducible drug codelist construction from ATC classification to CPRD Aurum prodcodes
Hoxhaj, V.; Fry, C.; Morris, D.; Aurelius, T.; Martin, S.; Sturkenboom, M.; Andaur Navarro, C.
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Objectives. To present DrugSet, a validated R Shiny application supporting the construction medicinal products codelists based on the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) system and their mapping to Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) Aurum prodcodes within a single interactive workflow. Materials and Methods. DrugSet comprises four modules: data preparation, ATC-based hierarchical code selection, string-based CPRD Aurum prodcodes mapping, and codelist export. Validation was conducted against World Health Organization (WHO) ATC reference codelists and manually curated prodcodes mappings across three drug classes: metformin, beta-blocking agents, and topical salicylic acid. Sensitivity, specificity, and Positive Predictive Values (PPV) were calculated for ATC codelist generation. Agreement proportions (overlapping against total identified codes) were calculated for prodcodes mapping. Time needed for codelist construction using DrugSet was recorded and compared to manual approaches. Results. DrugSet ATC codelist generation against WHO manual reference achieved 100% sensitivity, specificity, and PPV across all medicinal products. Prodcodes mapping agreement ranged from 89.2% to 98.3% with discrepancies due to missing data in the prodcodes input vocabulary. DrugSet completed codelist construction in 9 minutes compared to 3 hours and 10 minutes manually, across all medicinal products classes. Discussion. DrugSet provides a unified workflow that runs directly on ATC and source CPRD Aurum vocabulary files. The reduction in codelist construction time and export of the generated codelists supports reproducibility in pharmacoepidemiologic studies where codelist creation can represent a significant proportion of study setup time. Conclusion. DrugSet is an open-source, validated tool that improves accuracy, and efficiency of codelist construction for medicinal products based on ATC codes towards CPRD Aurum prodcodes.
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