• Florian Schneider, Vladimir Kaplan, Roksana Rodak, Edouard Battegay, and Barbara Holzer.
• Division of Internal Medicine, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland.
• Swiss Med Wkly. 2012 Jan 1; 142: w13533.

ObjectiveTo validate the estimates of the prevalence of multimorbidity based on administrative hospital discharge data, with medical records and chart reviews as benchmarks.DesignRetrospective cohort study.SettingMedical division of a tertiary care teaching hospital.ParticipantsA total of 170 medical inpatients admitted from the emergency unit in January 2009.Main MeasuresThe prevalence of multimorbidity for three different definitions (≥2 diagnoses, ≥2 diagnoses from different ICD-10 chapters, and ≥2 medical conditions as defined by Charlson/Deyo) and three different data sources (administrative data, chart reviews, and medical records).ResultsThe prevalence of multimorbidity in medical inpatients derived from administrative data, chart reviews and medical records was very high and concurred for the different definitions of multimorbidity (≥2 diagnoses: 96.5%, 95.3%, and 92.9% [p = 0.32], ≥2 diagnoses from different ICD-10 chapters: 86.5%, 90.0%, and 85.9% [p = 0.46], and ≥2 medical conditions as defined by Charlson/Deyo: 48.2%, 50.0%, and 46.5% [p = 0.81]). The agreement of rating of multimorbidity for administrative data and chart reviews and administrative data and medical records was 94.1% and 93.0% (kappa statistics 0.47) for ≥2 diagnoses; 86.0% and 86.5% (kappa statistics 0.52) for ≥2 diagnoses from different ICD-10 chapters; and 82.9% and 85.3% (kappa statistics 0.69) for ≥2 medical conditions as defined by Charlson/Deyo.ConclusionEstimates of the prevalence of multimorbidity in medical inpatients based on administrative data, chart reviews and medical records were very high and congruent for the different definitions of multimorbidity. Agreement for rating multimorbidity based on the different data sources was moderate to good. Administrative hospital discharge data are a valid source for exploring the burden of multimorbidity in hospital settings.

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