J Clin Neurol.  2016 Jan;12(1):42-48. 10.3988/jcn.2016.12.1.42.

Validation of Stroke and Thrombolytic Therapy in Korean National Health Insurance Claim Data

• Park TH
• Choi JC

• KMID: 2364918
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3988/jcn.2016.12.1.42

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
The claims data of the Korean National Health Insurance (NHI) system can be useful in stroke research. The aim of this study was to validate the accuracy of hospital discharge data used for NHI claims in identifying acute stroke and use of thrombolytic therapy.
METHODS
The hospital discharge data of 1,811 patients with stroke-related diagnosis codes were obtained from Jeju National University Hospital (JNUH) and Seoul Medical Center (SMC). Three algorithms were tested to identify discharges with acute stroke [ischemic stroke (IS), intracranial hemorrhage (ICH), or subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH)]: 1) all diagnosis codes up to nine positions, 2) one primary diagnosis and one secondary diagnosis, and 3) only one primary diagnosis code. Reviews of medical records were considered the gold standards.
RESULTS
Overall, the degree of agreement (kappa) was higher for algorithms 1 and 2 than for algorithm 3, and the sensitivity and specificity of the first two algorithms for IS and SAH were both >90%, with almost perfect agreement (kappa=0.83-0.84) in the JNUH data set. Regarding ICH, only algorithm 1 yielded an almost perfect agreement (kappa=0.82). In the SMC data set, almost perfect agreement was found for both ICH and SAH in all three algorithms. In contrast, the three algorithms yielded a range of agreement levels, though all substantial, for IS. Almost perfect agreement was obtained for use of thrombolytic therapy in both data sets (kappa=0.91-0.99).
CONCLUSIONS
Discharge with hemorrhagic stroke and use of thrombolytic therapy were identified with high reliability in administrative discharge data. A substantial level of agreement was also obtained for IS, despite variation between the algorithms and data sets.

Keyword

acute stroke; thrombolytic therapy; hospital records; data collection

MeSH Terms

Data Collection
Dataset
Diagnosis
Hospital Records
Humans
Intracranial Hemorrhages
Medical Records
National Health Programs*
Sensitivity and Specificity
Seoul
Stroke*
Subarachnoid Hemorrhage
Thrombolytic Therapy*

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