The use of a probabilistic record linkage methodology in databases to identify death records in epidemiological studies

Revista Brasileira de Epidemiologia

Albuquerque, Ceres¹  Machado, Juliana Pires¹  Santos, Isabela Soares¹  Silveira, Daniele Pinto da¹  Piovesan, Márcia Franke¹ 

[1] Agência Nacional de Saúde Suplementar

关键词: Record linkage;    Health information systems;    Private health insurance;    Mortality;   

DOI  :  10.1590/S1415-790X2008000100004

学科分类：过敏症与临床免疫学

来源: SciELO

【 摘 要 】

The increasingavailability of nationwide data organized in distinct information systems requiresthe development of linkage methodologies to identify the relationships betweenthe same variables in different databases. This article describes and analyzesthe linkage methodology between two countrywide databases: the Brazilian MortalitySystem and the database of the population covered by private health insurance.Death registrations and the records of individuals covered by private healthinsurance in 2004 were analyzed. 92,566 deaths were identified in those coveredby private health insurance. The strictness in specificity instead of sensitivityin the method employed did not lead to selection biases that could have compromisedthe resulting analyses. The standardized mortality ratio (SMR) indicates underestimationof the number of deaths, in addition to showing differences in the risk of deathbetween the populations analyzed; however, different life and health situationsmay have affected the results.

【 授权许可】

CC BY