Device - Adverse Events API Endpoint: "patient_problems" field missing from the results

[NINEam-t]

Hello,

I am no longer able to find the "patient_problems" field in the API call results. It was previously within the "patient" field and is still described in the data dictionary as patient.patient_problems but is missing from the actual returned results.

For example, Ctrl+F "patient_problems" returns 0 results for the following query: https://api.fda.gov/device/event.json?search=device.device_report_product_code:(LPL+OR+LPN+OR+LPM)&limit=10

"patient": [ { "patient_sequence_number": "1", "date_received": "20210802", "sequence_number_treatment": [ "" ], "sequence_number_outcome": [ "1. O" ] } ],

Thanks in advance for your help!

[dkrylovsb]

I have just tried the link you provided and can see at least 6 occurrences:

[NINEam-t]

There were 0 just before I submitted this issue. Perhaps this in the process of being corrected?

The field should exist for all returned records (10 in this case); the field should be populated with an empty array when there are no reported patient_problems.

[dkrylovsb]

No active corrections that we are aware of; curl -gs "https://api.fda.gov/device/event.json?search=_exists_:patient.patient_problems" | grep total reports over 10M matches, so everything seems to be in order.

If we always include the field (even when there are no values), then we wouldn't be able to use _exists_ and _missing_ clauses against that field effectively, which could become an issue.

[NINEam-t]

Thank you for the fast response. I don't mean to be difficult, but I sincerely do not understand why patient.patient_problems is being provided differently than before and differently than the other fields. Even in your screenshot there are multiple fields with no data populated by an empty string or an array populated only with an empty string ("health_professional", "manufacturer_contact_extension", and "patient"."sequence_number_treatment", just to name a few).

Thank you for your time.