No abstract

The International Psoriasis Council (IPC), a global non-profit organization dedicated to advancing psoriasis research and treatment, led an initiative to better define the association of various cardiometabolic comorbidities with psoriasis. In November 2013, a workshop was held in Boston, MA. By assembling a panel of global dermatology, immunology and cardiovascular experts, the objective was to better define the current status of the science that explains the association of psoriasis with various cardiometabolic-related comorbidities. IPC has played a historical role in associating psoriasis with various comorbidities by integrating multidisciplinary expertise to advance the scientific and clinical knowledge through publications and clinical trials. This report synthesizes the current understanding of psoriasis with various cardiometabolic risk factors by exploring the potential shared pathogenic mechanisms and genetic connectivity.

Background Electronic claims and medical record databases are important sources of information for medical research. However, potential sources of error and bias, including inaccurate diagnoses, incomplete data, incorrect data entry, and misclassification bias, necessitate studies that assess the validity of these databases. Objective To assess the validity of the diagnostic code for hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), which is an increasingly studied disease. Methods In this retrospective study, the medical records of 1,168 patients in the Massachusetts General Hospital database who had received at least two International Classification of Disease, Ninth Revision 705.83 codes were manually screened. Results Of the screened patients, 1,046 (89.6%) were confirmed as having HS. Mean age (standard deviation) was 44.0 (15.7) years, median age was 43.0 years, and 748 (71.5%) were female. The majority was white (66.7%), while a significant minority was black (13.9%) or Hispanic (13.4%). An increasing total number of codes and specific terms used to describe HS in the medical record, including “hydradenitis,” “boil,” “draining,” “abscess,” “fistula,” “cyst,” and “nodule,” could be used to improve the positive predictive value of the search. Conclusions Our results highlight the importance of establishing the validity of diagnostic codes in electronic databases and allow for refinements of appropriate ways to design future searches. Given the potential for misclassification of HS patients, establishing the validity of diagnostic codes and searching strategies in electronic databases represents a crucial step for subsequent studies utilizing these databases.