Abstract
BackgroundThe British Columbia (BC) Ministry of Health collects abortion procedure data in the Medical Services Plan (MSP) physician billings database and in the hospital information Discharge s Database (DAD). Our study seeks to validate abortion procedure coding in these databases.MethodsTwo randomized controlled trials enrolled a cohort of 1031 women undergoing abortion. The researcher collected database includes both enrollment and follow up chart review data. The study cohort was linked to MSP and DAD data to identify all abortions events captured in the administrative databases. We compared clinical chart data on abortion procedures with health administrative data. We considered a match to occur if an abortion related code was found in administrative data within 30 days of the date of the same event documented in a clinical chart.ResultsAmong 1158 abortion events performed during enrollment and follow-up period, 99.1 % were found in at least one of the administrative data sources. The sensitivities for the two databases, evaluated using a gold standard, were 97.7 % (95 % confidence interval (CI): 96.6–98.5) for the MSP database and 91.9 % (95 % CI: 90.0–93.4) for the DAD.ConclusionsAbortion events coded in the BC health administrative databases are highly accurate. Single-payer health administrative databases at the provincial level in Canada have the potential to offer valid data reflecting abortion events.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT01174225, Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN19506752.
Highlights
The British Columbia (BC) Ministry of Health collects abortion procedure data in the Medical Services Plan (MSP) physician billings database and in the hospital information Discharge Abstracts Database (DAD)
We examined the analogous data for each participant as captured through the provincial health administrative linked databases of Population Data BC, and the BC Ministry of Health [13,14,15,16]
We present the results of our analysis for index abortion events separately from our consideration of subsequent abortion events
Summary
The British Columbia (BC) Ministry of Health collects abortion procedure data in the Medical Services Plan (MSP) physician billings database and in the hospital information Discharge Abstracts Database (DAD). Accurate capture of abortion events within administrative data is important for both population health surveillance and for policy and program planning and evaluation. Observation of outcomes after an index abortion presents unique challenges, due to very low rates of return for clinical follow up post abortion [2, 3]. Failure to return for follow up is frequently associated with lower socioeconomic status, of particular concern as women of low socioeconomic status are over-represented among the population presenting for abortion, and for repeat abortion [2, 4, 5]. Chart audit methodology is likely to decline in accuracy due to the recent approval in Canada of mifepristone (RU-486) for use to induce medical abortion, which may be performed in a wide range
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
