Quality of recording of diabetes in the UK: how does the GP's method of coding clinical data affect incidence estimates? Cross-sectional study using the CPRD database. Tate, A. R., Dungey, S., Glew, S., Beloff, N., Williams, R., & Williams, T. BMJ open, 7(1):e012905, January, 2017.
doi  abstract   bibtex   
OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of coding quality on estimates of the incidence of diabetes in the UK between 1995 and 2014. DESIGN: A cross-sectional analysis examining diabetes coding from 1995 to 2014 and how the choice of codes (diagnosis codes vs codes which suggest diagnosis) and quality of coding affect estimated incidence. SETTING: Routine primary care data from 684 practices contributing to the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink (data contributed from Vision (INPS) practices). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Incidence rates of diabetes and how they are affected by (1) GP coding and (2) excluding 'poor' quality practices with at least 10% incident patients inaccurately coded between 2004 and 2014. RESULTS: Incidence rates and accuracy of coding varied widely between practices and the trends differed according to selected category of code. If diagnosis codes were used, the incidence of type 2 increased sharply until 2004 (when the UK Quality Outcomes Framework was introduced), and then flattened off, until 2009, after which they decreased. If non-diagnosis codes were included, the numbers continued to increase until 2012. Although coding quality improved over time, 15% of the 666 practices that contributed data between 2004 and 2014 were labelled 'poor' quality. When these practices were dropped from the analyses, the downward trend in the incidence of type 2 after 2009 became less marked and incidence rates were higher. CONCLUSIONS: In contrast to some previous reports, diabetes incidence (based on diagnostic codes) appears not to have increased since 2004 in the UK. Choice of codes can make a significant difference to incidence estimates, as can quality of recording. Codes and data quality should be checked when assessing incidence rates using GP data.
@article{tate_quality_2017,
	title = {Quality of recording of diabetes in the {UK}: how does the {GP}'s method of coding clinical data affect incidence estimates? {Cross}-sectional study using the {CPRD} database},
	volume = {7},
	issn = {2044-6055},
	shorttitle = {Quality of recording of diabetes in the {UK}},
	doi = {10.1136/bmjopen-2016-012905},
	abstract = {OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of coding quality on estimates of the incidence of diabetes in the UK between 1995 and 2014.
DESIGN: A cross-sectional analysis examining diabetes coding from 1995 to 2014 and how the choice of codes (diagnosis codes vs codes which suggest diagnosis) and quality of coding affect estimated incidence.
SETTING: Routine primary care data from 684 practices contributing to the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink (data contributed from Vision (INPS) practices).
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Incidence rates of diabetes and how they are affected by (1) GP coding and (2) excluding 'poor' quality practices with at least 10\% incident patients inaccurately coded between 2004 and 2014.
RESULTS: Incidence rates and accuracy of coding varied widely between practices and the trends differed according to selected category of code. If diagnosis codes were used, the incidence of type 2 increased sharply until 2004 (when the UK Quality Outcomes Framework was introduced), and then flattened off, until 2009, after which they decreased. If non-diagnosis codes were included, the numbers continued to increase until 2012. Although coding quality improved over time, 15\% of the 666 practices that contributed data between 2004 and 2014 were labelled 'poor' quality. When these practices were dropped from the analyses, the downward trend in the incidence of type 2 after 2009 became less marked and incidence rates were higher.
CONCLUSIONS: In contrast to some previous reports, diabetes incidence (based on diagnostic codes) appears not to have increased since 2004 in the UK. Choice of codes can make a significant difference to incidence estimates, as can quality of recording. Codes and data quality should be checked when assessing incidence rates using GP data.},
	language = {eng},
	number = {1},
	journal = {BMJ open},
	author = {Tate, A. Rosemary and Dungey, Sheena and Glew, Simon and Beloff, Natalia and Williams, Rachael and Williams, Tim},
	month = jan,
	year = {2017},
	pmid = {28122831},
	pmcid = {PMC5278252},
	keywords = {Data quality, Misclassification, primary care},
	pages = {e012905},
}

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