Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31892664›Full record

Observational studyBMJ open2019

Internal deterministic record linkage using indirect identifiers for matching of same-patient hospital transfers and early readmissions after acute coronary syndrome in a nationwide hospital discharge database: a retrospective observational validation study.

Afonso Rocha, Luıs Filipe Azevedo, J C Silva Cardoso, Thomas G Allison, Alberto Freitas

Open access · goldAbstract readObservational StudyValidation Study
In one paragraph

Observational study in BMJ open, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
0.3field-weighted citation impact, top 34% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed, 6 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 2 institutions in 3 countries.

Afonso RochaCenter for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS), University of Porto-Faculty of Medicine, Porto, Portugal afonsomrocha@gmail.com.ORCID 0000-0003-0824-4598
Luıs Filipe AzevedoDepartment of Health Information and Decision Sciences (CIDES) & Center for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS), University of Porto-Faculty of Medicine, Porto, Portugal.
J C Silva CardosoDepartment of Cardiology, Centro Hospitalar Universitário São João, University of Porto-Faculty of Medicine, Porto, Portugal.
Thomas G AllisonDepartment of Cardiovascular Medicine and Cardiovascular Surgery, Mayo School of Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.
Alberto FreitasDepartment of Health Information and Decision Sciences (CIDES) & Center for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS), University of Porto-Faculty of Medicine, Porto, Portugal.
Universidade do Porto · PTMayo Clinic · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesTo assess validity of record linkage using multiple indirect personal identifiers to identify same-patient hospitalisations and definition of episode of care (EC) due to acute coronary syndrome (ACS).

methodsUsing national hospital discharge data to identify all admissions due to ACS, we used six different linkage rules using indirect identifiers with increasing level of detail and compared validity against a pseudonymised unique identifier used as gold standard (GS). Contiguous hospitalisations within each matched group of hospitalizations occurring within 28 days of each other were considered one EC. We classified hospitalisations according to time between the first pair of hospitalisations as hospital transfer (HT: ≤1 day), early readmission (ER: 2-28 days) or recurrent cases (>28 days).

resultsThere were 146 671 hospitalisations (unlinked), 121 987 ACS 28-day EC (linked GS), with 18 398 HTs (≤1 day), and 6286 ERs (≤28 days). Linkage rules using demographic and residence code variables produced linkage rates with highest validity for rule using sex, date of birth and four-digit residence code with sensitivity of 98.4 (95% CI: 98.4 to 98.5); specificity of 97.8 (95% CI: 97.6 to 98.0) and Cohen's κ of 0.9 to detect ACS-EC, compared with GS linkage rule. Similarly, validity for HT and ER was high and of similar magnitude, with sensitivity ranging between 97.2% and 98.1%, and specificity between 98.8% and 99.9%, respectively.

conclusionsOur internal linkage validation study using indirect patient identifiers will allow calibration of incidence rates and performance indicators, accounting for the effect of HT and readmissions.

Indexed as

Acute Coronary SyndromeAdultAgedAged, 80 and overFemaleHumansMaleMedical Record LinkageMiddle AgedPatient DischargePatient ReadmissionPatient TransferPortugalRetrospective Studiesacute coronary syndromedeterministic linkagehospital admissionsmedical record linkage

Identifiers

PMID31892664
PMCPMC6955528
OpenAlexW2997693372

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.