Building a codelist
Workflow🔗
The general workflow for creating codelists is as follows:
- Search OpenCodelists for codelists that meet or nearly meet your requirements and make sure that one doesn't already exist.
- If you need to build a new codelist sign up for an account on OpenCodelists.
- Create a new issue on the codelist-development repo.
- Decide your key terms to search for codes. Good source of key words might be a previous codelist, clinicians or experts in the field and previous research papers.
- When logged into OpenCodelists click "my codelists" and then "create new codelist". There is a short video at the bottom of this page on how to use the builder to develop a medication codelist.
- Add/remove terms to your codelists to end up with a list.
- Save the list as a draft and share the link to your the GitHub issue.
- Discuss as a group in the issue your decisions, and the reason for including or excluding different codes. Finalise a list as a group (i.e. at least 2). Detailed reasons are helpful in this issue for referencing in the future.
- Once agreed, obtain sign-off.
- Clicking "Save changes" makes the codelist available on OpenCodelists. Summarise your discussion briefly for the metadata, and reference the issue on the website for more details. This will initially be a draft. When ready, publish it.
- Close the issue on the codelist-development repo.
- Import the codelist for use in your study definition.
Create a new issue on the codelist-development repo🔗
The issue title should start with either:
- *PATIENT* -- non-clinical patient information (demographic, social, etc)
- *CONDITION* -- specific clinical conditions / disorders / findings / symptoms
- *DISEASE* -- specific diseases
- *MEDICINE* -- medicines, treatments, prescriptions, interventions
- another codelist classification if relevant.
The rest of the title should be short and informative.
Discuss and document and review🔗
Discuss and document each decision clearly and comprehensively in the issue. Explain why codes have been included and why codes have been excluded. Link to relevant webpages and documents. Upload files. Involve domain experts. Iterate.
The current coding systems available in opencodelists are listed below.
Coding system | CSV column name |
---|---|
Pseudo BNF | BNFCode |
CTV3 (Read v3) | CTV3Code |
CTV3 (Read v3) with TPP extensions | CTV3Code |
Dictionary of Medicines and Devices (dm+d) | DMDCode |
International Classification of Diseases 10 (ICD-10) | ICD10Code |
Read v2 | Read2Code |
SNOMED CT | SNOMEDCode |
Each codelist must use exactly one of these systems.
The final codelist must be stored in CSV format to be imported into OpenCodelists. The codes must be stored in exactly one column. There is currently a soft requirement that the codes should be contained in the first column, preferably named according to the CSV column names provided in the table above. The second column is typically a text description of the code. Before uploading a codelist CSV under your OpenSAFELY codelist profile, you should remove the header row as these will be automatically added in a standardised manner.
The codelist page will allow you to upload two columns (a code, and a text description of the code), however, some codelists may require a 'classification' or 'type' column, which classifies the codes into subcategories. For example, when using a codelist for venous thromboemobolism you may wish to classify these codes into deep vein thromboses and pulmonary embolisms, and keep this within a single codelist rather than uploading separate lists for each subcategory of the clinical condition. You can access subcategories of a codelist by using the filter_codes_by_category
functionality when calling with_these_clinical_events
as part of your study_definition
. Uploading more than two columns is currently only possible for the OpenSAFELY core team, so in case this is required for your study please get in touch.
Finally, please avoid filtering on an include or exclude column in Excel when finalising a codelist. Any filters applied will be lost when converted to CSV, and you will end up with all of the codes being uploaded.
Sign-off🔗
Once a draft codelist has been agreed, it must be signed-off by a "data expert" (epidemiological sign-off) and "disease expert" (clinical sign-off) from at least two different people.
Add to OpenCodelists🔗
- Go to the OpenCodelists new codelist page. You will need an editor account. Ask one of the tech team for one if you do not have one.
- Fill in the fields. Include lots of detail (specific guidance to follow).
- CSV data: Export your Spreadsheet to a CSV and choose that file.
- References: this should include a link to the issue on the codelist-development repo, and any other relevant materials.
- Sign Off: This should match the people signing off on the issue. You need at least 2 people and can have many more.
- Click Submit and check the new codelist has appeared on the main site.
Exporting a CSV from a Spreadsheet🔗
- In Excel go to File
- Click Export in the left-hand ribbon menu
- Select Change File Type
- Click CSV (Comma delimited) (*.csv)
Close the issue in the repo🔗
Go to the codelist issue in the codelist repo and close it. This issue serves as documentation of the choices made that determined the final codelist. The issue can be re-opened if revisions are required.
Import the codelist for use in your study definition🔗
Once the codelist is in OpenCodelists, you can retrieve it for use in your research repo. Follow the adding codelists to project instructions if you're not sure how to do this.
Codelist contributorship🔗
How contributions to codelists are acknowledged -- to be agreed.
Editing existing codelists🔗
- Go to an existing Codelist page.
- Click Edit metadata.
- Edit the relevant fields
- Note: Changing the CSV data requires you Update the current Version or Create a new Version, both can be done from the Codelist page.
- Add, remove, or edit the References and SignOffs as needed.
- Click Submit
Publishing a Codelist Version🔗
- Go to an existing Codelist page.
- This will show you the latest version for a Codelist.
- If it's a draft version there will be a Publish version button on the left below Create new version.
- If not, it's already published, good job!
Adding a Codelist Version🔗
- Go to an existing Codelist page.
- Click Create new version.
- If you want to update the existing version, click Update version instead.
Build a simple medication codelist🔗
This is a short video showing how to build a pseudoBNF medication codelist. For OpenSAFELY studies you can convert this to NHS Dictionary of Medicines and Devices codelist which we briefly mention at the end of the video. More on this soon!