RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Validity of vascular trauma codes at major trauma centres
JF Canadian Journal of Surgery
JO CAN J SURG
FD Canadian Medical Association
SP 405
OP 408
DO 10.1503/cjs.013412
VO 56
IS 6
A1 Abdulmajeed Altoijry
A1 Mohammed Al-Omran
A1 Thomas F. Lindsay
A1 K. Wayne Johnston
A1 Magda Melo
A1 Muhammad Mamdani
YR 2013
UL http://canjsurg.ca/content/56/6/405.abstract
AB Background: The use of administrative databases in vascular injury research has been increasing, but the validity of the diagnosis codes used in this research is uncertain. We assessed the positive predictive value (PPV) of International Classification of Diseases, tenth revision (ICD-10), vascular injury codes in administrative claims data in Ontario.Methods: We conducted a retrospective validation study using the Canadian Institute for Health Information Discharge Abstract Database, an administrative database that records all hospital admissions in Canada. We evaluated 380 randomly selected hospital discharge abstracts from the 2 main trauma centres in Toronto, Ont., St. Michael’s Hospital and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, between Apr. 1, 2002, and Mar. 31, 2010. We then compared these records with the corresponding patients’ hospital charts to assess the level of agreement for procedure coding. We calculated the PPV and sensitivity to estimate the validity of vascular injury diagnosis coding.Results: The overall PPV for vascular injury coding was estimated to be 95% (95% confidence interval [CI] 92.3–96.8). The PPV among code groups for neck, thorax, abdomen, upper extremity and lower extremity injuries ranged from 90.8 (95% CI 82.2–95.5) to 97.4 (95% CI 91.0–99.3), whereas sensitivity ranged from 90% (95% CI 81.5–94.8) to 98.7% (95% CI 92.9–99.8).Conclusion: Administrative claims hospital discharge data based on ICD-10 diagnosis codes have a high level of validity when identifying cases of vascular injury.Level of evidence Observational Study Level III.