Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32894060›Full record

ArticleBMC medical research methodology2020

Suitability of administrative claims databases for bariatric surgery research - is the glass half-full or half-empty?

Xiaojuan Li, Kristina H Lewis, Katherine Callaway, J Frank Wharam, Sengwee Toh

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC medical research methodology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
1.0field-weighted citation impact, top 23% 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

6 citing papers in PubMed, 8 citations in OpenAlex.

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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 1 country.

Xiaojuan LiDepartment of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, 401 Park Drive, Suite 401 East, Boston, MA, 02215, USA. xiaojuan_li@harvardpilgrim.org.ORCID 0000-0002-1305-0846
Kristina H LewisDivision of Public Health Sciences, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.
Katherine CallawayDepartment of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, 401 Park Drive, Suite 401 East, Boston, MA, 02215, USA.
J Frank WharamDepartment of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, 401 Park Drive, Suite 401 East, Boston, MA, 02215, USA.
Sengwee TohDepartment of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, 401 Park Drive, Suite 401 East, Boston, MA, 02215, USA.
Harvard University · USWake Forest University · US

Funding

Clinical and Health Care Use Outcomes for Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy vs. Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass Using a National Commercial Insurance Claims DatasetR01DK112750 · NIDDK · HARVARD PILGRIM HEALTH CARE, INC. · PI LEWIS, KRISTINA H · 2017 to 2021
$2.4M
Privacy-protecting distributed analysis of biomedical big dataU01EB023683 · NIBIB · HARVARD PILGRIM HEALTH CARE, INC. · PI TOH, DARREN · 2016 to 2018
$1.4M
Improving missing data analysis in distributed research networksR01HS026214 · AHRQ · HARVARD PILGRIM HEALTH CARE, INC. · PI TOH, DARREN · 2018 to 2020
$1.2M
AHRQ HHS R01 HS026214NIBIB NIH HHS U01 EB023683NIBIB NIH HHS U01EB023683NIDDK NIH HHS R01 DK112750
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundClaims databases are generally considered inadequate for obesity research due to suboptimal capture of body mass index (BMI) measurements. This might not be true for bariatric surgery because of reimbursement requirements and changes in coding systems. We assessed the availability and validity of claims-based weight-related diagnosis codes among bariatric surgery patients.

methodsWe identified three nested retrospective cohorts of adult bariatric surgery patients who underwent adjusted gastric banding, Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, or sleeve gastrectomy between January 1, 2011 and June 30, 2018 using different components of OptumLabs® Data Warehouse, which contains linked de-identified claims and electronic health records (EHRs). We measured the availability of claims-based weight-related diagnosis codes in the 6-month preoperative and 1-year postoperative periods in the main cohort identified in the claims data. We created two claims-based algorithms to classify the presence of severe obesity (a commonly used cohort selection criterion) and categorize BMI (a commonly used baseline confounder or postoperative outcome). We evaluated their performance by estimating sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and weighted kappa in two sub-cohorts using EHR-based BMI measurements as the reference.

resultsAmong the 29,357 eligible patients identified using claims only, 28,828 (98.2%) had preoperative weight-related diagnosis codes, either granular indicating BMI ranges or nonspecific denoting obesity status. Among the 27,407 patients with granular preoperative codes, 12,346 (45.0%) had granular codes and 9355 (34.1%) had nonspecific codes in the 1-year postoperative period. Among the 3045 patients with both preoperative claims-based diagnosis codes and EHR-based BMI measurements, the severe obesity classification algorithm had a sensitivity 100%, specificity 71%, positive predictive value 100%, and negative predictive value 78%. The BMI categorization algorithm had good validity categorizing the last available preoperative or postoperative BMI measurements (weighted kappa [95% confidence interval]: preoperative 0.78, [0.76, 0.79]; postoperative 0.84, [0.80, 0.87]).

conclusionsClaims-based weight-related diagnosis codes had excellent validity before and after bariatric surgical operation but suboptimal availability after operation. Claims databases can be used for bariatric surgery studies of non-weight-related effectiveness and safety outcomes that are well-captured.

Indexed as

Bariatric SurgeryGastric BypassObesity, MorbidAdultBody Mass IndexGastrectomyHumansRetrospective StudiesTreatment OutcomeBariatric surgeryBody mass indexHealthcare administrative claimsPredictive value of testsSensitivity and specificityValidation study

Identifiers

PMID32894060
PMCPMC7487952
OpenAlexW3083946935

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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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.