Knowledge Graphs in Pharmacovigilance: A Scoping Review

Purpose

To critically assess the role and added value of knowledge graphs in pharmacovigilance, focusing on their ability to predict adverse drug reactions.

Methods

A systematic scoping review was conducted in which detailed information, including objectives, technology, data sources, methodology, and performance metrics, were extracted from a set of peer-reviewed publications reporting the use of knowledge graphs to support pharmacovigilance signal detection.

Findings

The review, which included 47 peer-reviewed articles, found knowledge graphs were utilized for detecting/predicting single-drug adverse reactions and drug-drug interactions, with variable reported performance and sparse comparisons to legacy methods.

Implications

Research to date suggests that knowledge graphs have the potential to augment predictive signal detection in pharmacovigilance, but further research using more reliable reference sets of adverse drug reactions and comparison with legacy pharmacovigilance methods are needed to more clearly define best practices and to establish their place in holistic pharmacovigilance systems.