Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety
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Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf · Jun 2012
Randomized Controlled TrialAccuracy of pneumonia hospital admissions in a primary care electronic medical record database.
When using electronic medical record data to study drug use, hospitalizations are markers of severe outcomes. To identify events within a specified time window, it is important to validate hospitalization diagnoses and dates. Our objective was to validate pneumonia hospitalizations and their dates identified using hospitalization codes in The Health Improvement Network (THIN), a UK primary care electronic medical record. ⋯ THIN hospitalization codes performed well in identifying acute pneumonia hospitalizations and their timing. Admission date validity might be better for conditions associated with shorter versus longer hospitalizations.