Chronic disease prevalence from Italian administrative databases in the VALORE project: a validation through comparison of population estimates with general practice databases and national survey


immagine articoli scientifici ARSAutori: Gini R, Francesconi P, Mazzaglia G, Cricelli I, Pasqua A, Gallina P, Brugaletta S, Donato D, Donatini A, Marini A, Zocchetti C, Cricelli C, Damiani G, Bellentani M, Sturkenboom MC, Schuemie MJ
Rivista: BMC Public Health. 2013 Jan 9;13(1):15

In questo studio si usano i dati sanitari amministrativi per stimare quanti assistiti sono affetti da diabete, cardiopatia ischemica, insufficienza cardiaca o broncopatia cronica ostruttiva in cinque regioni italiane. Per confermarne l'attendibilità, si confrontano le stime ottenute con quelle della medicina generale e dell'ISTAT, con risultati confortanti.


Abstract

BACKGROUND: Administrative databases are widely available and have been extensively used to provide estimates of chronicdisease prevalence for the purpose of surveillance of both geographical and temporal trends. There are,however, other sources of data available, such as medical records from primary care and national surveys. Inthis paper we compare disease prevalence estimates obtained from these three different data sources.
METHODS: Data from general practitioners (GP) and administrative transactions for health services were collected fromfive Italian regions (Veneto, Emilia Romagna, Tuscany, Marche and Sicily) belonging to all the threemacroareas of the country (North, Center, South). Crude prevalence estimates were calculated by data sourceand region for diabetes, ischaemic heart disease, heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD). For diabetes and COPD, prevalence estimates were also obtained from a national health survey. When necessary, estimates were adjusted for completeness of data ascertainment.

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