Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T15:13:10.046Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Feasibility study for identifying adverse events attributable to vaccination by record linkage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2009

J. Q. Nash
Affiliation:
Public Health Laboratory, William Harvey Hospital, Kenningon Road, Ashford, Kent TN 24 0LZ
M. Chandrakumar
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health Medicine, East Kent Health Authority, 7–9 Cambridge Terrace, Dover, Kent CT16 1JT
C. P. Farrington
Affiliation:
Statistics Unit, Public Health Laboratory Service, 61 Colindale Avenue, London NW9 5EQ
S. Williamson
Affiliation:
Department of Child Health, William Harvey Hospital, Kenningon Road, Ashford, Kent TN24 0LZ
E. Miller
Affiliation:
Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, 61 Colindale Avenue, London NW9 5EQ
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

To investigate the feasibility of using a record linkage method for identifying vaccine attributable adverse events, computerized hospital admissions and vaccination records from South East Kent district were linked and checked for accuracy. Records for 90% of children under 2 years of age admitted to hospital over a 2-year period were matched with vaccination records using a computer algorithm based on name, date of birth, sex, and post-code supplemented by visual inspection. Relative to this gold standard, matching on date of birth, sex and postcode alone had a sensitivity of 60% and an incorrect match rate of 0·2% after matches to more than one vaccine recipient were excluded. Manual checking of a sample of admissions showed that only 4% had been assigned incorrect International Classification of Disease (ICD) codes. Routine record linkage of ICD admission codes to vaccination records therefore yields data of good quality which may be used for surveillance purposes.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

References

REFERENCES

1.Miller, E, Goldacre, M, Colville, A et al. . Risk of aseptic meningitis after measles, mumps and rubella vaccine in UK children. Lancet 1993; 341: 979–82.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2.Farrington, P, Pugh, S, Colville, A et al. , Active surveillance of adverse events attributable to DTP and MMR vaccines: results of a new method. Lancet 1995; 345: 567–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3.DataBase 4 Reference Manual. Ilford, UK: DataBase UK Limited, 1991.Google Scholar
4.Farrington, CP. Relative incidence estimation from case series for vaccine safety evaluation. Biometrics. In press.Google Scholar
5.Cody, CL, Baraff, LJ, Cherry, JD, Marcy, SM, Manclarke, CR. Nature and rates of adverse reactions associated with DTP and DT immunizations in infants and children. Pediatrics 1981; 68: 650–60.Google Scholar
6.Pollock, TM, Miller, E, Mortimer, JY, Smith, G. Symptoms after primary immunization with DTP and DT vaccine. Lancet 1984; i: 146–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar