A scoping review of self-supervised representation learning for clinical decision making using EHR categorical data.

Journal: NPJ digital medicine
Published Date: Jun 14, 2025

Abstract

The widespread adoption of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) and deep learning, particularly through Self-Supervised Representation Learning (SSRL) for categorical data, has transformed clinical decision-making. This scoping review, following PRISMA-ScR guidelines, examines 46 studies published from January 2019 to April 2024, sourced from PubMed, MEDLINE, Embase, ACM, and Web of Science, focusing on SSRL for unlabeled categorical EHR data. The review systematically assesses research trends in building computationally and data-efficient representations for medical tasks, identifying major trends in model families: Transformer-based (43%), Autoencoder-based (28%), and Graph Neural Network-based (17%) models. The analysis highlights scenarios where healthcare institutions can leverage or develop SSRL technologies. It also addresses current limitations in assessing the impact of these technologies and identifies research opportunities to enhance their influence on clinical practice.

Authors

  • Zheng Yuanyuan
    Division of Medical Information Sciences, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland.
  • Bensahla Adel
    Division of Medical Information Sciences, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland.
  • Bjelogrlic Mina
    Division of Medical Information Sciences, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland. mina.bjelogrlic@hug.ch.
  • Zaghir Jamil
    Division of Medical Information Sciences, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland.
  • Turbe Hugues
    Division of Medical Information Sciences, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland.
  • Bednarczyk Lydie
    Division of Medical Information Sciences, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland.
  • Gaudet-Blavignac Christophe
    Division of Medical Information Sciences, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland.
  • Ehrsam Julien
    Division of Medical Information Sciences, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland.
  • Marchand-Maillet Stéphane
    Department of Computer Science, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
  • Lovis Christian
    Division of Medical Information Sciences, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland.

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