Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Jan;24(1):107-11.
doi: 10.1002/pds.3721. Epub 2014 Oct 21.

Coding algorithms for identifying patients with cirrhosis and hepatitis B or C virus using administrative data

Bolin Niu  1 , Kimberly A Forde, David S Goldberg
Affiliations

Coding algorithms for identifying patients with cirrhosis and hepatitis B or C virus using administrative data

Bolin Niu et al. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf. 2015 Jan.

Abstract

Background and aims: Despite the use of administrative data to perform epidemiological and cost-effectiveness research on patients with hepatitis B or C virus (HBV, HCV), there are no data outside of the Veterans Health Administration validating whether International Classification of Disease, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) codes can accurately identify cirrhotic patients with HBV or HCV. The validation of such algorithms is necessary for future epidemiological studies.

Methods: We evaluated the positive predictive value (PPV) of ICD-9-CM codes for identifying chronic HBV or HCV among cirrhotic patients within the University of Pennsylvania Health System, a large network that includes a tertiary care referral center, a community-based hospital, and multiple outpatient practices across southeastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey. We reviewed a random sample of 200 cirrhotic patients with ICD-9-CM codes for HCV and 150 cirrhotic patients with ICD-9-CM codes for HBV.

Results: The PPV of 1 inpatient or 2 outpatient HCV codes was 88.0% (168/191, 95% CI: 82.5-92.2%), while the PPV of 1 inpatient or 2 outpatient HBV codes was 81.3% (113/139, 95% CI: 73.8-87.4%). Several variations of the primary coding algorithm were evaluated to determine if different combinations of inpatient and/or outpatient ICD-9-CM codes could increase the PPV of the coding algorithm.

Conclusions: ICD-9-CM codes can identify chronic HBV or HCV in cirrhotic patients with a high PPV and can be used in future epidemiologic studies to examine disease burden and the proper allocation of resources.

Keywords: administrative data; hepatitis B virus; hepatitis C virus; pharmacoepidemiology; validation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: None of the authors have any relevant conflicts of interest.

References

    1. [Accessed February 26, 2014];FASTSTATS - Chronic Liver Disease or Cirrhosis. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/liverdis.htm.
    1. Myers RP, Tandon P, Ney M, et al. Validation of the five-variable Model for End-stage Liver Disease (5vMELD) for prediction of mortality on the liver transplant waiting list. Liver Int. 2013 - PubMed
    1. OPTN: Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network. [Accessed February 26, 2014]; Available at: http://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/latestData/rptData.asp.
    1. Hepatitis C Task Force, Boldt MD, Brill JV, et al. Hepatitis C screening: summary of recommendations from the clinical decision tool. Gastroenterology. 2013;145(5):1146–1149. - PubMed
    1. Byrne DD, Newcomb CW, Carbonari DM, et al. Prevalence of diagnosed chronic hepatitis B infection among U.S. Medicaid enrollees, 2000–2007. Annals of Epidemiology. 2014 - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources