Mining Administrative Health Databases to Advance Medical Science: Geographical Considerations and Untapped Potential in Canada

Epidemiology of Hypertension in Canada: An Update

“…Thus, our findings cannot be generalized to these jurisdictions and specific assessment within these populations is required. Given that cardiovascular disease risk M A N U S C R I P T A C C E P T E D ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 18 is increased in specific ethnic groups (e.g. First Nations, South Asian), populationrepresentative assessments of awareness, treatment and control in these groups should be prioritized.…”

“…[18] The CCDSS definition of hypertension is based upon at least two physician claims within a two-year period or one inpatient hospital separation for ICD-9 codes (401.x, 402.x, 403.x, 404.x, or 405.x) or ICD-10-CA codes (I10.x, I11.x, I12.x, I13.x or I15.x). [19] This algorithm is 75% sensitive and 94% specific for diagnosing hypertension compared to patient chart review.…”

Use and Utility of Administrative Health Data for Stroke Research and Surveillance

“…This allows for data from multiple databases within a province or territory to be linked reliably. 32 Most countries, including the United States, Australia, and many Asian countries do not have access to unique indentifiers and data must be linked using probabilistic methods. 32 Finally, delays inherent in the compilation of large data sets may limit the real-time use of administrative health data.…”

Validity of Canadian discharge abstract data for hypertension and diabetes from 2002 to 2013

“…Data quality may vary between institutions and processes for data collection management in other settings. 28 Caution should be applied in generalizing our findings to other regions or sites with less rigorous processes for coding administrative data. Our study also contained a very specialized population, consisting only of patients with suspected heart disease.…”