Eq Comparison

An Equality Comparison (abbreviated as Eq-Comparison) is an expression which compares an Event (typically an Age or Observation) to numeric values or dates. Operator types are:

• GT - greater than, or >
• GTEQ - greater than or equal, >=
• LT - less than, or <
• LTEQ - less than or equal, or <=
• EQ - equal, or =
• BETWEEN - between
• PLUS-MINUS - plus or minus, or +/-

Note that if BETWEEN is used, the Equality Comparison should be annotated to include both low and high Equality Values (see example below).

Equality Comparisons serve a variety of purposes, primarily as annotations for numeric comparisons and date ranges. Why use one annotation type for both use cases? For simplicity, mainly, and because the arguments used largely overlap (i.e., both generally need an operator, value, and unit).

How best to annotate units?

• If numeric, use an Eq-Unit (e.g., 500 mg).
• If for dates, use a Eq-Temporal-Unit (e.g., last 7 weeks). For guidelines on temporal operators, see Past vs Present vs Future.

Trigger

A full expression of comparison, such as within the past 6 weeks, >= 10mm, or between 10 and 12 months.

Examples

_{Example of an 'Equality Comparison' for Karnofsky performance status greater than or equal to 80%.}

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_{Example of an 'Equality Comparison' for 'in the next 12 weeks'.}

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_{Example of 'Equality Comparison' for BMI > 29.9 kg/m2.}

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_{Example of 'Equality Comparison' for 'Age' between 18 and 55.}

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_{Example of 'Equality Comparison' for 'first-ever' aphasic symptoms.}

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_{Example of 'Equality Comparison' for an 'active' infection.}

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_{Example of 'Equality Comparison' for an 'past' keloid formation.}

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_{Example of 'Equality Comparison' for 'at least 24 hours' duration after surgery.}

Arguments

• Value - An Eq-Value or Severity representing the actual value, almost always numeric (e.g., "in past 5 days").
• Unit - An Eq-Unit, which is a non-temporal unit representing a unit of quantitative measurement, such as "kg", or "inches".
• Temporal-Unit - An Eq-Temporal-Unit, which represents a unit of time measurement. Temporal unit are:
  • second
  • minute
  • hour
  • day
  • week
  • month
  • year
• Temporal-Period - An Eq-Temporal-Period, which represents a period of time. Temporal periods are:
  • past
  • recent
  • present
  • future
  • anytime
• Operator - An Eq-Operator, which is a mathematical or verbal span expressing a restriction or comparison, such as "in the past", "greater than", "<=", or ">".
• Temporal-Recency - An Eq-Temporal-Recency, which represents the first or most recent occurrence. Temporal recency types are:
  • first-time
  • most-recent-time
• Per - An Eq-Temporal-Unit expressing a unit of chronological frequency, such as "weeks", "months", or "years".