Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32782026›Full record

ArticleBMC medical informatics and decision making2020

Developing and validating an algorithm to identify incident chronic dialysis patients using administrative data.

Dino Gibertoni, Claudio Voci, Marica Iommi, Benedetta D'Ercole, Marcora Mandreoli, Antonio Santoro, Elena Mancini

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC medical informatics and decision making, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

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7citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Validation of an Algorithm to Identify End-Stage Kidney Disease in Electronic Health Records Data.American journal of kidney diseases : the official journal of the National Kidney Foundation · 2025
    Article
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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Dino GibertoniDepartment of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, University of Bologna, Via San Giacomo 12, 40126, Bologna, Italy. dino.gibertoni2@unibo.it.ORCID 0000-0002-1722-3724
Claudio VociBologna Local Health Authority, Bologna, Italy.
Marica IommiAdvanced School for Health Policy, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
Benedetta D'ErcoleCooperativa EDP La Traccia, Matera, Italy.
Marcora MandreoliNephrology and Dialysis Unit, S. Maria della Scaletta Hospital, Imola, Italy.
Antonio SantoroSpecialty School in Nephrology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
Elena ManciniNephrology, Dialysis and Hypertension Unit, Policlinico S.Orsola-Malpighi, Bologna, Italy.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAdministrative healthcare databases are widespread and are often standardized with regard to their content and data coding, thus they can be used also as data sources for surveillance and epidemiological research. Chronic dialysis requires patients to frequently access hospital and clinic services, causing a heavy burden to healthcare providers. This also means that these patients are routinely tracked on administrative databases, yet very few case definitions for their identification are currently available. The aim of this study was to develop two algorithms derived from administrative data for identifying incident chronic dialysis patients and test their validity compared to the reference standard of the regional dialysis registry.

methodsThe algorithms are based on data retrieved from hospital discharge records (HDR) and ambulatory specialty visits (ASV) to identify incident chronic dialysis patients in an Italian region. Subjects are included if they have at least one event in the HDR or ASV databases based on the ICD9-CM dialysis-related diagnosis or procedure codes in the study period. Exclusion criteria comprise non-residents, prevalent cases, or patients undergoing temporary dialysis, and are evaluated only on ASV data by the first algorithm, on both ASV and HDR data by the second algorithm. We validated the algorithms against the Emilia-Romagna regional dialysis registry by searching for incident patients in 2014 and performed sensitivity analyses by modifying the criteria to define temporary dialysis.

resultsAlgorithm 1 identified 680 patients and algorithm 2 identified 676 initiating dialysis in 2014, compared to 625 patients included in the regional dialysis registry. Sensitivity for the two algorithms was respectively 90.8 and 88.4%, positive predictive value 84.0 and 82.0%, and percentage agreement was 77.4 and 74.1%.

conclusionsAlgorithms relying on retrieval of administrative records have high sensitivity and positive predictive value for the identification of incident chronic dialysis patients. Algorithm 1, which showed the higher accuracy and has a simpler case definition, can be used in place of regional dialysis registries when they are not present or sufficiently developed in a region, or to improve the accuracy and timeliness of existing registries.

Indexed as

AlgorithmsRenal DialysisDatabases, FactualFemaleHumansInternational Classification of DiseasesItalyAdministrative dataAlgorithmAmbulatory specialty visitsCase definitionChronic dialysisHospital discharge records

Identifiers

PMID32782026
PMCPMC7422518

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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.