Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Validation Studies on a Diabetes Case Definition from Health Administrative Records

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Abstract

Objectives

Health administrative data are frequently used for diabetes surveillance. We aimed to determine the sensitivity and specificity of a commonly-used diabetes case definition (two physician claims or one hospital discharge abstract record within a two-year period) and their potential effect on prevalence estimation.

Methods

Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, we searched Medline (from 1950) and Embase (from 1980) databases for validation studies through August 2012 (keywords: “diabetes mellitus”; “administrative databases”; “validation studies”). Reviewers abstracted data with standardized forms and assessed quality using Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (QUADAS) criteria. A generalized linear model approach to random-effects bivariate regression meta-analysis was used to pool sensitivity and specificity estimates. We applied correction factors derived from pooled sensitivity and specificity estimates to prevalence estimates from national surveillance reports and projected prevalence estimates over 10 years (to 2018).

Results

The search strategy identified 1423 abstracts among which 11 studies were deemed relevant and reviewed; 6 of these reported sensitivity and specificity allowing pooling in a meta-analysis. Compared to surveys or medical records, sensitivity was 82.3% (95%CI 75.8, 87.4) and specificity was 97.9% (95%CI 96.5, 98.8). The diabetes case definition underestimated prevalence when it was ≤10.6% and overestimated prevalence otherwise.

Conclusion

The diabetes case definition examined misses up to one fifth of diabetes cases and wrongly identifies diabetes in approximately 2% of the population. This may be sufficiently sensitive and specific for surveillance purposes, in particular monitoring prevalence trends. Applying correction factors to adjust prevalence estimates from this definition may be helpful to increase accuracy of estimates.

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Most cited references 37

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Global prevalence of diabetes: estimates for the year 2000 and projections for 2030.

Sarah Wild, Gojka Roglic, Anders Green … (2004)

The goal of this study was to estimate the prevalence of diabetes and the number of people of all ages with diabetes for years 2000 and 2030. Data on diabetes prevalence by age and sex from a limited number of countries were extrapolated to all 191 World Health Organization member states and applied to United Nations' population estimates for 2000 and 2030. Urban and rural populations were considered separately for developing countries. The prevalence of diabetes for all age-groups worldwide was estimated to be 2.8% in 2000 and 4.4% in 2030. The total number of people with diabetes is projected to rise from 171 million in 2000 to 366 million in 2030. The prevalence of diabetes is higher in men than women, but there are more women with diabetes than men. The urban population in developing countries is projected to double between 2000 and 2030. The most important demographic change to diabetes prevalence across the world appears to be the increase in the proportion of people >65 years of age. These findings indicate that the "diabetes epidemic" will continue even if levels of obesity remain constant. Given the increasing prevalence of obesity, it is likely that these figures provide an underestimate of future diabetes prevalence.

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Diabetes, other risk factors, and 12-yr cardiovascular mortality for men screened in the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial.

J Stamler, O Vaccaro, J Neaton … (1993)

To assess predictors of CVD mortality among men with and without diabetes and to assess the independent effect of diabetes on the risk of CVD death. Participants in this cohort study were screened from 1973 to 1975; vital status has been ascertained over an average of 12 yr of follow-up (range 11-13 yr). Participants were 347,978 men aged 35-57 yr, screened in 20 centers for MRFIT. The outcome measure was CVD mortality. Among 5163 men who reported taking medication for diabetes, 1092 deaths (603 CVD deaths) occurred in an average of 12 yr of follow-up. Among 342,815 men not taking medication for diabetes, 20,867 deaths were identified, 8965 ascribed to CVD. Absolute risk of CVD death was much higher for diabetic than nondiabetic men of every age stratum, ethnic background, and risk factor level--overall three times higher, with adjustment for age, race, income, serum cholesterol level, sBP, and reported number of cigarettes/day (P < 0.0001). For men both with and without diabetes, serum cholesterol level, sBP, and cigarette smoking were significant predictors of CVD mortality. For diabetic men with higher values for each risk factor and their combinations, absolute risk of CVD death increased more steeply than for nondiabetic men, so that absolute excess risk for diabetic men was progressively greater than for nondiabetic men with higher risk factor levels. These findings emphasize the importance of rigorous sustained intervention in people with diabetes to control blood pressure, lower serum cholesterol, and abolish cigarette smoking, and the importance of considering nutritional-hygienic approaches on a mass scale to prevent diabetes.

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Economic costs of diabetes in the U.S. In 2007.

(2008)

The prevalence of diabetes continues to grow, with the number of people in the U.S. with diagnosed diabetes now reaching 17.5 million. The objectives of this study are to quantify the economic burden of diabetes caused by increased health resource use and lost productivity, and to provide a detailed breakdown of the costs attributed to diabetes. This study uses a prevalence-based approach that combines the demographics of the population in 2007 with diabetes prevalence rates and other epidemiological data, health care costs, and economic data into a Cost of Diabetes Model. Health resource use and associated medical costs are analyzed by age, sex, type of medical condition, and health resource category. Data sources include national surveys and claims databases, as well as a proprietary database that contains annual medical claims for 16.3 million people in 2006. The total estimated cost of diabetes in 2007 is $174 billion, including $116 billion in excess medical expenditures and $58 billion in reduced national productivity. Medical costs attributed to diabetes include $27 billion for care to directly treat diabetes, $58 billion to treat the portion of diabetes-related chronic complications that are attributed to diabetes, and $31 billon in excess general medical costs. The largest components of medical expenditures attributed to diabetes are hospital inpatient care (50% of total cost), diabetes medication and supplies (12%), retail prescriptions to treat complications of diabetes (11%), and physician office visits (9%). People with diagnosed diabetes incur average expenditures of $11,744 per year, of which $6,649 is attributed to diabetes. People with diagnosed diabetes, on average, have medical expenditures that are approximately 2.3 times higher than what expenditures would be in the absence of diabetes. For the cost categories analyzed, approximately $1 in $5 health care dollars in the U.S. is spent caring for someone with diagnosed diabetes, while approximately $1 in $10 health care dollars is attributed to diabetes. Indirect costs include increased absenteeism ($2.6 billion) and reduced productivity while at work ($20.0 billion) for the employed population, reduced productivity for those not in the labor force ($0.8 billion), unemployment from disease-related disability ($7.9 billion), and lost productive capacity due to early mortality ($26.9 billion). The actual national burden of diabetes is likely to exceed the $174 billion estimate because it omits the social cost of intangibles such as pain and suffering, care provided by nonpaid caregivers, excess medical costs associated with undiagnosed diabetes, and diabetes-attributed costs for health care expenditures categories omitted from this study. Omitted from this analysis are expenditure categories such as health care system administrative costs, over-the-counter medications, clinician training programs, and research and infrastructure development. The burden of diabetes is imposed on all sectors of society-higher insurance premiums paid by employees and employers, reduced earnings through productivity loss, and reduced overall quality of life for people with diabetes and their families and friends.

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Author and article information

Contributors

Noel Christopher Barengo: Role: Editor

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): PLoS One

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): PLoS ONE

Journal ID (publisher-id): plos

Journal ID (pmc): plosone

Title: PLoS ONE

Publisher: Public Library of Science (San Francisco, USA )

ISSN (Electronic): 1932-6203

Publication date Collection: 2013

Publication date (Electronic): 9 October 2013

Volume: 8

Issue: 10

Electronic Location Identifier: e75256

Affiliations

[1 ]Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

[2 ]Department of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

[3 ]Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, British Columbia, Canada

Univserity of Tolima, Colombia

Author notes

* E-mail: elham.rahme@ 123456mcgill.ca

Competing Interests: Co-author Kaberi Dasgupta is a PLOS ONE Editorial Board member. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Conceived and designed the experiments: AL KD SB ER. Performed the experiments: AL ER. Analyzed the data: AL KD ER. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: AL ER. Wrote the paper: AL KD SB ER. Designed the search strategy: AL KD AAZ DL ER. Conceptualization of the study: AL KD SB ER.

Article

Publisher ID: PONE-D-13-14120

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0075256

PMC ID: 3793995

PubMed ID: 24130696

SO-VID: ad88c234-a700-44ff-b540-55ec83cba72c

License:

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

History

Date received : 4 April 2013

Date accepted : 13 August 2013

Page count

Pages: 11

Funding

This work was supported by grants from the Canadian Arthritis Network [10-01-RIPP-04 and 10-01-RIPP-02] and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research [SSD-83167]. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Validation Studies on a Diabetes Case Definition from Health Administrative Records

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Abstract

Objectives

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Results

Conclusion

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Most cited references 37

Global prevalence of diabetes: estimates for the year 2000 and projections for 2030.

Diabetes, other risk factors, and 12-yr cardiovascular mortality for men screened in the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial.

Economic costs of diabetes in the U.S. In 2007.

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