How to determine the date to use to populate measurement_date when there are multiple dates in the source #164

burrowse · 2024-04-23T22:03:51Z

How to determine the date to use to populate measurement_date when there are multiple dates in the source

CDM/Themis

Field

No

The CDM documentation states that If there are multiple dates in the source data associated with a record such as order_date, draw_date, and result_date, choose the one that is closest to the date the sample was drawn from the patient.
However, in a forum thread concerning a proposal for adding multiple dates in the measurement table, it appears the "blood draw" would occur at the procedure level and the result would be stored in the measurement table with the date the lab test was resulted: https://forums.ohdsi.org/t/how-does-one-associate-multiple-datetime-stamps-with-a-lab-result/18331
In another thread, it was proposed that "draw time" is the primary time researchers would be concerned about: https://forums.ohdsi.org/t/collection-and-result-date-time-in-measurement-table/2531

It appears the best practice would be to use a date that represents the draw date.
However it's unclear (to me :) ) if we want to add a decision tree of sorts for ETL guidance to the CDM documentation or have this as a Themis convention.