Approaches for classifying the indications for colonoscopy using detailed clinical data

Background Accurate indication classification is critical for obtaining unbiased estimates of colonoscopy effectiveness and quality improvement efforts, but there is a dearth of published systematic classification approaches. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of data-source and...
Ausführliche Beschreibung

Background Accurate indication classification is critical for obtaining unbiased estimates of colonoscopy effectiveness and quality improvement efforts, but there is a dearth of published systematic classification approaches. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of data-source and adjudication on indication classification and on estimates of the effectiveness of screening colonoscopy on late-stage colorectal cancer diagnosis risk. Methods This was an observational study in members of four U.S. health plans. Eligible persons (n = 1039) were age 55–85 and had been enrolled for 5 years or longer in their health plans during 2006–2008. Patients were selected based on late-stage colorectal cancer diagnosis in a case–control design; each case patient was matched to 1–2 controls by study site, age, sex, and health plan enrollment duration. Reasons for colonoscopies received in the 10-year period before the reference date were collected from three medical records sources (progress notes; referral notes; procedure reports) and categorized using an algorithm, with committee adjudication of some tests. We evaluated indication classification concordance before and after adjudication and used logistic regressions with the Wald Chi-square test to compare estimates of the effects of screening colonoscopy on late-stage colorectal cancer diagnosis risk for each of our data sources to the adjudicated indication. Results Classification agreement between each data-source and adjudication was 78.8-94.0% (weighted kappa = 0.53-0.72); the highest agreement (weighted kappa = 0.86-0.88) was when information from all data sources was considered together. The choice of data-source influenced the association between screening colonoscopy and late-stage colorectal cancer diagnosis; estimates based on progress notes were closest to those based on the adjudicated indication (% difference in regression coefficients = 2.4%, p-value = 0.98), as compared to estimates from only referral notes (% difference in coefficients = 34.9%, p-value = 0.12) or procedure reports (% difference in coefficients = 27.4%, p-value = 0.23). Conclusion There was no single gold-standard source of information in medical records. The estimates of colonoscopy effectiveness from progress notes alone were the closest to estimates using adjudicated indications. Thus, the details in the medical records are necessary for accurate indication classification. Ausführliche Beschreibung

Autor*in:	Fassil, Hirut [verfasserIn] Adams, Kenneth F Weinmann, Sheila Doria-Rose, V Paul Johnson, Eric Williams, Andrew E Corley, Douglas A Doubeni, Chyke A

Format:	E-Artikel
Sprache:	Englisch

Erschienen:	2014

Schlagwörter:	Fecal Occult Blood Test Progress Note Screening Colonoscopy Indication Classification Screen Colonoscopy

Anmerkung:	© Fassil et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (

Übergeordnetes Werk:	Enthalten in: BMC cancer - London : BioMed Central, 2001, 14(2014), 1 vom: 15. Feb.
Übergeordnetes Werk:	volume:14 ; year:2014 ; number:1 ; day:15 ; month:02

Links:	Volltext

DOI / URN:	10.1186/1471-2407-14-95

Katalog-ID:	SPR027650928