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.

OBJECTIVES: 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.