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The impact of the lookback period and definition of confirmatory events on the identification of incident cancer cases in administrative data

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Medical Research Methodology, August 2017
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Title
The impact of the lookback period and definition of confirmatory events on the identification of incident cancer cases in administrative data
Published in
BMC Medical Research Methodology, August 2017
DOI 10.1186/s12874-017-0407-4
Pubmed ID
Authors

Jonas Czwikla, Kathrin Jobski, Tania Schink

Abstract

This cohort study examined the impact of the lengths of lookback and confirmation periods as well as the definition of confirmatory events on the number of incident cancer cases identified and age-standardized cumulative incidences (ACI) estimated in administrative data using German cancer registry data as a benchmark. ACI per 100,000 insured persons for breast, prostate and colorectal cancer were estimated using BARMER Statutory Health Insurance claims data. Incident cancer cases were defined as having an in- or outpatient diagnosis in 2013, no diagnosis in a lookback period of 1 year and a second diagnosis (or death) in a confirmation period of 1 quarter. We varied lookback periods from 1 to 7 years, confirmation periods from 1 to 4 quarters as well as the definition of confirmatory events and compared ACI estimates to cancer registry data. ACI were higher for breast (138.7) and prostate (103.6) but lower for colorectal cancer (42.1) when compared to cancer registries (119.3, 98.0 and 45.5, respectively). Extending the lookback period to 7 years reduced ACI to 129.0, 95.1 and 38.3. An extended confirmation period of 4 quarters increased ACI to 151.3, 114.9 and 46.8. Including breast and colorectal surgeries as a confirmatory event reduced ACI to 114.9 and 37.1, respectively. The choice of lookback and confirmation periods and the definition of confirmatory events have considerable impact on the number of incident cancer cases identified and ACI estimated. Researchers need to be aware of potential misclassification when identifying incident cancer cases in administrative data. Further validation studies as well as studies using administrative data to estimate cancer incidences should consider several choices of the lookback and confirmation periods and the definition of confirmatory events to show how these parameters impact the validity and robustness of their results.

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Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 27 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 27 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Researcher 4 15%
Student > Ph. D. Student 4 15%
Student > Bachelor 3 11%
Student > Master 3 11%
Unspecified 1 4%
Other 3 11%
Unknown 9 33%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 8 30%
Nursing and Health Professions 4 15%
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science 3 11%
Computer Science 1 4%
Unspecified 1 4%
Other 0 0%
Unknown 10 37%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 15 August 2017.
All research outputs
#20,442,790
of 22,997,544 outputs
Outputs from BMC Medical Research Methodology
#1,891
of 2,027 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#277,277
of 317,683 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Medical Research Methodology
#42
of 51 outputs
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