What gets recorded, counts: dementia recording in primary care compared with a specialist database.

Background databases of electronic health records are powerful tools for dementia research, but data can be influenced by incomplete recording. We examined whether people with dementia recorded in a specialist database (from a mental health and dementia care service) differ from those recorded in pr...

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Published in:Age & Ageing Vol. 50; no. 6; pp. 2206 - 2214
Main Authors: Davis, Katrina A S, Mueller, Christoph, Ashworth, Mark, Broadbent, Matthew, Jewel, Amelia, Molokhia, Mariam, Perera, Gayan, Stewart, Robert J
Format: Article
Published: Oxford University Press / USA Nov2021
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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      dt: Nov2021
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      pub: Oxford University Press / USA
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        atl: What gets recorded, counts: dementia recording in primary care compared with a specialist database.
      aug:
        au:
          Davis, Katrina A S
          Mueller, Christoph
          Ashworth, Mark
          Broadbent, Matthew
          Jewel, Amelia
          Molokhia, Mariam
          Perera, Gayan
          Stewart, Robert J
        affil:
          King's College London Institute of Psychiatry Psychology and Neuroscience , London, UK
          South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust , London, UK
          King's College London Population Health Sciences , London, UK
      su:
        Mortality
        Retrospective studies
        Mental health
        Primary health care
        Documentation
        Databases
        Medical information storage & retrieval systems
        Confidence intervals
        Comparative studies
        Dementia
        Electronic health records
        Odds ratio
        Longitudinal method
        Comorbidity
      sug:
        subj:
          Mortality
          Retrospective studies
          Mental health
          Primary health care
          Documentation
          Offices of Mental Health Practitioners (except Physicians)
          Databases
          Medical information storage & retrieval systems
          Confidence intervals
          Comparative studies
          Dementia
          Electronic health records
          Odds ratio
          Longitudinal method
          Comorbidity
      keyword:
        cohort studies
        dementia
        electronic health records
        older people
        primary care
        cohort studies
        dementia
        electronic health records
        older people
        primary care
      ab: Background databases of electronic health records are powerful tools for dementia research, but data can be influenced by incomplete recording. We examined whether people with dementia recorded in a specialist database (from a mental health and dementia care service) differ from those recorded in primary care. Methods a retrospective cohort study of the population covered by Lambeth DataNet (primary care electronic records) between 2007 and 2019. Documentation of dementia diagnosis in primary care coded data and linked records in a specialist database (Clinical Records Interactive Search) were compared. Results 3,859 people had dementia documented in primary care codes and 4,266 in the specialist database, with 2,886/5,239 (55%) documented in both sources. Overall, 55% were labelled as having Alzheimer's dementia and 29% were prescribed dementia medication, but these proportions were significantly higher in those documented in both sources. The cohort identified from the specialist database were less likely to live in a care home (prevalence ratio 0.73, 95% confidence interval 0.63–0.85), have multimorbidity (0.87, 0.77–0.98) or consult frequently (0.91, 0.88–0.95) than those identified through primary care codes, although mortality did not differ (0.98, 0.91–1.06). Discussion there is under-recording of dementia diagnoses in both primary care and specialist databases. This has implications for clinical care and for generalizability of research. Our results suggest that using a mental health database may under-represent those patients who have more frailty, reflecting differential referral to mental health services, and demonstrating how the patient pathways are an important consideration when undertaking database studies.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
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