Validity of health plan and birth certificate data for pregnancy research. (3rd July 2012)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Andrade, Susan E.; Scott, Pamela E.; Davis, Robert L.; Li, De‐Kun; Getahun, Darios; Cheetham, T. Craig; Raebel, Marsha A.; Toh, Sengwee; Dublin, Sascha; Pawloski, Pamala A.; Hammad, Tarek A.; Beaton, Sarah J.; Smith, David H.; Dashevsky, Inna; Haffenreffer, Katherine; Cooper, William O.
• Is Part Of: Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety. Volume 22:Number 1(2013:Jan.)
• Page Start: 7
• Page End: 15
• Publication Date: 2012-07-03
• Subjects: Pharmacoepidemiology -- Periodicals; Chemotherapy -- Periodicals; Epidemiology -- Periodicals; 615.705
• DOI: 10.1002/pds.3319
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1053-8569

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title>ABSTRACT</title> <sec id="pds3319-sec-0001" sec-type="section"> <title>Purpose</title> <p>To evaluate the validity of health plan and birth certificate data for pregnancy research.</p> </sec> <sec id="pds3319-sec-0002" sec-type="section"> <title>Methods</title> <p>A retrospective study was conducted using administrative and claims data from 11 U.S. health plans and corresponding birth certificate data from state health departments. Diagnoses, drug dispensings, and procedure codes were used to identify infant outcomes (cardiac defects, anencephaly, preterm birth, and neonatal intensive care unit [NICU] admission) and maternal diagnoses (asthma and systemic lupus erythematosus [SLE]) recorded in the health plan data for live born deliveries between January 2001 and December 2007. A random sample of medical charts (<italic>n</italic> = 802) was abstracted for infants and mothers identified with the specified outcomes. Information on newborn, maternal, and paternal characteristics (gestational age at birth, birth weight, previous pregnancies and live births, race/ethnicity) was also abstracted and compared to birth certificate data. Positive predictive values (PPVs) were calculated with documentation in the medical chart serving as the gold standard.</p> </sec> <sec id="pds3319-sec-0003" sec-type="section"> <title>Results</title> <p>PPVs were 71% for cardiac defects, 37% for anencephaly, 87% for preterm birth, and 92% for NICU admission. PPVs for algorithms to identify maternal diagnoses of asthma and SLE were ≥ 93%. Our findings indicated considerable agreement (PPVs > 90%) between birth certificate and medical record data for measures related to birth weight, gestational age, prior obstetrical history, and race/ethnicity.</p> </sec> <sec id="pds3319-sec-0004" sec-type="section"> <title>Conclusions</title> <p>Health plan and birth certificate data can be useful to accurately identify some infant outcomes, maternal diagnoses, and newborn, maternal, and paternal characteristics. Other outcomes and variables may require medical record review for validation. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.</p> </sec> </abstract>