ArticlePloS one2023
Data linkage of two national databases: Lessons learned from linking the Dutch Arthroplasty Register with the Dutch Foundation for Pharmaceutical Statistics.
Article in PloS one, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Association of preoperative chronic opioid use with 1-year revision rate, mortality, and patient-reported outcomes after primary hip and knee arthroplasty: age, sex and BMI matter - a Dutch register-based study.Acta orthopaedica · 2025Article
- 10-year trends in benzodiazepine, opioid, and concurrent use in hip and knee arthroplasty: a nationwide cohort study from the Netherlands.Acta orthopaedica · 2025Article
- Exploring the Complexity of Real-World Health Data Record Linkage-An Exemplary Study Linking Cancer Registry and Claims Data.Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety · 2025Article
- Linking health survey data with health insurance data: methodology, challenges, opportunities and recommendations for public health research. An experience from the HISlink project in Belgium.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2023Article
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5 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundTo provide guidance on data linkage in case of non-unique identifiers, we present a case study linking the Dutch Foundation for Pharmaceutical Statistics and Dutch Arthroplasty Register to investigate opioid prescriptions before/after arthroplasty.
methodsDeterministic data linkage was used. Records were linked on: sex, birthyear, postcode, surgery date, or thromboprophylaxis initiation as a proxy for the surgery date. Different postcodes were used, depending on availability: patient postcode (available from 2013 onwards), hospital postcode with codes for physicians/hospitals, and hospital postcode with catchment area. Linkage was assessed in several groups: linked arthroplasties, linked on patient postcode, linked on patient postcode, and low-molecular-weight heparin(LWMH). Linkage quality was assessed by checking prescriptions after death, antibiotics after revision for infection, and presence of multiple prostheses. Representativeness was assessed by comparing the patient-postcode-LMWH group with the remaining arthroplasties. External validation was performed by comparing our opioid prescription rates with those derived from datasets from Statistics Netherlands.
resultsWe linked 317,899 arthroplasties on patient postcode/hospital postcode(48%). Linkage on the hospital postcode appeared insufficient. Linkage uncertainty ranged from roughly 30% in all arthroplasties to 10-21% in the patient-postcode-LMWH-group. This subset resulted in 166.357(42%) linked arthroplasties after 2013 with somewhat younger age, fewer females, and more often osteoarthritis than other indications compared to the other arthroplasties. External validation showed similar increases in opioid prescription rates.
conclusionsAfter identifier selection, checking data availability and internal validity, assessing representativeness, and externally validating our results we found sufficient linkage quality in the patient-postcode-LMWH-group, which consisted of around 42% of the arthroplasties performed after 2013.
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