Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T05:14:04.989Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Can Hospital Discharge Diagnosis be used for Surveillance of Bacteremia? A Data Quality Study of a Danish Hospital Discharge Registry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 March 2016

Kreesten Meldgaard Madsen*
Affiliation:
Danish Epidemiology Science Centre at the Department of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark Department of Clinical Microbiology, Aalborg Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark
Henrik Carl Schønheyder
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Microbiology, Aalborg Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark
Brian Kristensen
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Microbiology, Aalborg Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark
Gunnar Lauge Nielsen
Affiliation:
Danish Epidemiology Science Centre at the Department of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
Henrik Toft Sørensen
Affiliation:
Danish Epidemiology Science Centre at the Department of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark Department of Internal Medicine V, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark
*
Rosenvej 24, DK-8240 Risskov, Denmark

Abstract

Objective:

To assess the data quality of septicemia and sepsis registration in a hospital discharge registry in the County of Northern Jutland, Denmark.

Design:

Comparison of data from the discharge registry of an 880-bed, public, urban hospital in the County of Northern Jutland with data from a computerized bac-teremia database at the regional department of clinical microbiology.

Setting:

Urban hospital with approximately 45,000 admissions per year.

Patients:

The study included 406 episodes of bac-teremia in the bacteremia database and 83 discharges with the diagnosis of septicemia registered in the hospital discharge registry between January 1, 1994, and December 31, 1994.

Interventions:

None.

Results:

Eighteen episodes were registered in both the hospital discharge registry and the bacteremia database. Using the bacteremia database as reference standard, the sensitivity for the diagnosis of septicemia in the hospital discharge registry was 4.4% (18/406; 95% confidence intervals [CI95, 2.4%-6.4%]). By review of hospital records, we estimated the positive predictive value of septicemia registration in the hospital discharge registry as 21.7% (18/83; CI95, 12.8%-30.5%). No blood culture had been obtained in 44.4% (36/81; CI95, 33.6%-55.3%) of the cases with a discharge diagnosis of septicemia. In 33.3% (27/81; CI95, 23.1%-43.6%), the discharge diagnosis of septicemia was given, although blood cultures were negative.

Conclusions:

The hospital discharge registry revealed numerous misclassifications, and the system was found not suited for surveillance of, or research in, bacteremia at present

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1998

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Leibovici, L, Samra, Z, Konigsberger, H, Drucker, M, Ashkenazi, S, Pitlik, SD. Long-term survival following bacteremia or fungemia. JAMA 1995;274:807ߝ812.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2. Bone, RC. Gram-positive organisms and sepsis. Arch Intern Med 1994;154:26ߝ34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3. Bone, RC, Fisher, CJ Jr, Clemmer, TP, Slotman, GJ, Metz, CA, Balk, RA. Sepsis syndrome: a valid clinical entity. Methylprednisolone Severe Sepsis Study Group. Crit Care Med 1989;17:389ߝ393.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4. Bates, DW, Pruess, KE, Lee, TH. How bad are bacteremia and sepsis? Outcomes in a cohort with suspected bacteremia. Arch Intern Med 1995;155:593ߝ598.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5. Kunin, CM. Resistance to antimicrobial drugs-a worldwide calamity. Ann Intern Med 1993;118:557ߝ561.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6. Breiman, RF, Butler, JC, Tenover, FC, Elliott, JA, Facklam, RR. Emergence of drug-resistant pneumococcal infections in the United States. JAMA 1994;271:1831ߝ1835.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
7. Chow, JW, Fine, MJ, Shlaes, DM, Quinn, JP, Hooper, DC, Johnson, MP, et al. Enterobacter bacteremia: clinical features and emergence of antibiotic resistance during therapy. Ann Intern Med 1991;115:585ߝ590.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
8. Linares, J, Pallares, R, Alonso, T, Perez, JL, Ayats, J, Gudiol, F, et al. Trends in antimicrobial resistance of clinical isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae in Bellvitge Hospital, Barcelona, Spain (1979-1990). Clin Infect Dis 1992;15:99ߝ105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9. Geslin, P, Buu Hoi, A, Fremaux, A, Acar, JF. Antimicrobial resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae: an epidemiological survey in France, 1970-1990. Clin Infect Dis 1992;15:95ߝ98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10. Aszkenasy, OM, George, RC, Begg, NT. Pneumococcal bacteraemia and meningitis in England and Wales, 1982 to 1992. Commun Dis Rep 1995;5:R45ߝR50.Google ScholarPubMed
11. Young, SE. Bacteraemia, 1975-1980: a survey of cases reported to the PHLS Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre. J Infect 1982;5:19ߝ26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12. Baltimore, RS. New challenges in the development of a conjugate pneumococcal vaccine. JAMA 1992;268:3366, 3367.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
13. Heap, BJ. Notifiable diseases. BMJ 1992;304:726, 727.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
14. Ackman, DM, Birkhead, G, Flynn, M. Assessment of surveillance for meningococcal disease in New York state, 1991. Am J Epidemiol 1996;144:78ߝ82.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
15. Sørensen, HT, Sabroe, S, Olsen, J. A framework for evaluation of secondary data sources for epidemiological research. Int J Epidemiol 1996;25:435ߝ442.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
16. Iezzoni, LI, Burnside, S, Sickles, L, Moskowitz, MA, Sawitz, E, Levine, PA. Coding of acute myocardial infarction. Clinical and policy implications. Ann Intern Med 1988;109:745ߝ751.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
17. Raiford, DS, Gutthann, SP, Rodriguez, LAG. Positive predictive value of ICD-9 codes in the identification of cases of complicated peptic ulcer disease in the Saskatchewan Hospital Automated Database. Epidemiology 1996;7:101ߝ104.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
18. Sørensen, HT, Hansen, I, Ejlersen, E, Schonheyder, HC, Hamburger, H, Sabroe, S. Identification of cases meningococ-cal disease: data quality in two Danish population-based information systems during a 14-year period. Int J Risk Safety Med 1995;7:179ߝ189.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
19. Fonager, K, Sørensen, HT, Rasmussen, NS, Moller-Petersen, J, Vyberg, M. Assessment of the diagnosis of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis in a Danish hospital information system. Scand J Gastroenterol 1996;31:154ߝ159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
20. Schiff, GD, Yaacoub, AS. The diagnostic coding of myocardial infarction. Ann Intern Med 1989;110:243.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
21. Fletcher, RH, Fletcher, SW, Wagner, EH. Clinical Epidemiology. 3rd ed. Baltimore, MD: Williams & Wilkins; 1996.Google Scholar
22. Schønheyder, HC, Hojbjerg, T. The impact of the first notification of positive blood cultures on antibiotic therapy. A one-year survey. APMIS 1995;103:37ߝ44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
23. Meulengracht, A, Madsen, M. Registre inden for sundhedsom-rå;det (Registers within the health sector). Copenhagen, Denmark: Danish Institute for Clinical Epidemiology; 1982.Google Scholar
24. World Health Organization. International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Health Related Problems. 10th ed. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO; 1992.Google Scholar
25. Schiøler, G, Mosbech, J. Klassifikation af sygdomme (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Health Related Problems). 10 th ed. Copenhagen, Denmark: Sundhedsstyrelsen and Munksgaard; 1993.Google Scholar
26. Weinstein, MP, Reller, LB, Murphy, JR, Lichtenstein, KA. The clinical significance of positive blood cultures: a comprehensive analysis of 500 episodes of bacteremia and fungemia in adults, I: laboratory and epidemiologic observations. Rev Infect Dis 1983;5:35ߝ53.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
27. Young, LS. Sepsis syndrome. In: Mandell, GL, Bennet, JE, Dolin, R, eds. Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases. 4th ed. New York, NY: Churchill Livingstone; 1995.Google Scholar
28. Bone, RC. Sepsis, the sepsis syndrome, multi-organ failure: a plea for comparable definitions. Ann Intern Med 1991;114:332, 333.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
29. Desenclos, JC, Bijkerk, H, Huisman, J. Variations in national infectious diseases surveillance in Europe. Lancet 1993;341:1003ߝ1006.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
30. Arbo, MD, Snydman, DR. Influence of blood culture results on antibiotic choice in the treatment of bacteremia. Arch Intern Med 1994;154:2641ߝ2645.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
31. Frain, JP, Frain, AE, Carr, PH. Experience of medical senior house officers in preparing discharge summaries. BMJ 1996;312:350.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
32. Paul, SM, Finelli, L, Crane, GL, Spitalny, KC. A statewide surveillance system for antimicrobial-resistant bacteria: New Jersey. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 1995;16:385ߝ390.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed