Medical diagnosis derived from patient drug history data

Abstract

In general the invention is directed to systems, methods, and/or software modules which may analyze a patient's drug history, and optionally other data, and derive a probable diagnosis for the patient based on rules.

1 . A computer-implemented method, the method implemented on a computer having at least one processor and a memory, comprising:
 receiving patient data comprising the patient's drug history;   analyzing, using the at least one processor of the computer, the patient data, wherein the analysis comprises applying at least one rule which defines a relationship among a disease and drug usage expected to be associated with the disease, and further wherein the at least one rule is applied to the patient's drug history based on a hierarchy of diseases, the hierarchy being a function, at least in part, of a severity of the disease to the patient's health, and further wherein the hierarchy of diseases is applied such that if the application of the at least one rule yields a plurality of possible diseases including a more severe and a less severe disease, the more severe disease is associated with the patient; and,   based on the analysis, inferring a diagnosis for the patient.   
     
     
         2 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the patient data additionally includes information additionally defining time periods in which a drug was taken or received by a patient. 
     
     
         3 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the applied rule includes a span rule, which defines a period of time for which the patient must have been taking a drug for a disease to be associated with the patient. 
     
     
         4 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 3 , wherein the span rule includes gap rules, which define gaps in the period of time for which a patient must have been taking a drug for a disease to be associated with the patient. 
     
     
         5 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the computer further analyzes at least a portion of the patient's genetic data, and wherein the applied rule includes a genetic rule that specifies a genetic feature of the patient that must be present for the disease to be associated with the patient. 
     
     
         6 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 5 , wherein the genetic rule is indicative of a predisposition to the disease. 
     
     
         7 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 5 , wherein the genetic rule is indicative of a predisposition to the disease only when a drug usage is present in a person's drug history. 
     
     
         8 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein associating the most severe disease with the patient comprises:
 assigning the disease to the patient based on selecting the highest diagnosis in the hierarchy that is consistent with the applied rule.   
     
     
         9 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the patient's drug history identifies more than one drug taken by the patient, and wherein applying the rule further comprises applying the drug diagnosis rule to the second drug taken by the patient. 
     
     
         10 . A computer-implemented system for inferring a diagnosis for a patient based on at least the patient's drug history comprising:
 a rules module, which receives a patient's drug history, the drug history including at least two drugs the patient was previously prescribed and the dates associated with such prescriptions, and applies at least one rule that defines relationships between the patient's drug history and a diagnosis, to yield at least two possible diseases that fit the patient's drug history; and,   a diagnosis assignment module, which assigns a probable medical diagnosis to the patient based on the rules module's application of rules, and wherein the probable medical diagnosis is assigned based on a hierarchy of diseases, the hierarchy being a function, at least in part, of a severity of the disease to the patient's health, and further wherein the hierarchy of diseases is applied such that the more severe of the two possible diseases is associated with the patient.   
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the most severe disease comprises the disease with the highest anticipated cost of treatment. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the patient data additionally includes information defining time periods in which a drug was taken or received by a patient. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the applied rule includes a span rule, which defines a period of time for which the patient must have been taking a drug for a disease to be associated with the patient. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the span rule includes gap rules, which define gaps in the period of time for which a patient must have been taking a drug for a disease to be associated with the patient. 
     
     
         15 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 10 , wherein the patient's drug history additionally includes a representation of the patient's genetic data, and wherein the applied rule includes a genetic rule that specifies a genetic feature of the patient that must be present for the disease to be associated with the patient. 
     
     
         16 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 15 , wherein the genetic rule is indicative of a predisposition to the disease. 
     
     
         17 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 15 , wherein the genetic rule is indicative of a predisposition to the disease only when a drug usage is present in a person's drug history.