ArticleCMAJ open
Validity of hospital diagnostic codes to identify SARS-CoV-2 infections in reference to polymerase chain reaction results: a descriptive study.
Article in CMAJ open. 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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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.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- Concordance between ICD-10-AM clinical coding and SARS-CoV-2 PCR testing for COVID-19 in Australian hospitals.Health information management : journal of the Health Information Management Association of Australia · 2026Article
- Severe Outcomes and Length of Stay Among People With Schizophrenia Hospitalized for COVID-19: A Population-Based Retrospective Cohort Study.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2026Article
- Article
- Surveillance of severe acute respiratory infections associated with SARS-CoV-2, influenza virus and RSV using ICD-10 codes: a case definition accuracy study across five European countries, 2021 to 2023.Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin · 2025Article
- Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Real World Data Infrastructure: A Big-Data Resource for Study of the Impact of COVID-19 in Patient Populations With Immunocompromising Conditions.Open forum infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Burden of Illness Associated With Respiratory Syncytial Virus, Influenza, and Coronavirus Disease 2019 in Infants and Young Children in Ontario, Canada, 2018-2023: A Population-Based Canadian Immunization Research Network Study.Open forum infectious diseases · 2024Article
- Clinical evaluation of a machine learning-based early warning system for patient deterioration.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn 2020,
methodsGEMINI assembles hospitalization data (including administrative ICD-10 discharge diagnostic codes, laboratory results and demographic data) from hospitals in Ontario, Canada. We studied adults (age ≥ 18 yr) admitted during 2020 and tested at least once for SARS-CoV-2 via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) during (or within 48 h before) hospitalization. With PCR results as the reference standard, we calculated sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) for ICD-10 code U07.1 hospital discharge diagnostic codes. Analyses were stratified by demographic data, calendar period and timing of the first test (within or after 48 h of hospital admission).
resultsIn 11 852 hospitalizations with at least 1 SARS-CoV-2 PCR test, 444 (3.7%) were positive. The sensitivity of code U07.1 to identify SARS-CoV-2 infection was 97.8%, specificity was 99.5%, PPV was 88.2% and NPV was 99.9%. Operating characteristics were similar in most stratified analyses, but the specificity and PPV were lower if the first SARS-CoV-2 test was done more than 48 hours after admission.
interpretationThe sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV of code U07.1 were high. This supports using code U07.1 to identify SARS-CoV-2 infection in hospitalization data.
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Registered trials
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