title: Which are the best identifiers for record linkage?
abstract: As a linkage using less informative identifiers could lead to linkage errors, it is essential to quantify the information associated to each identifier. The aim of this study was to estimate the discriminating power of different identifiers susceptible to be used in a record linkage process. This work showed the interest of three identifiers when linking data concerning a same patient using an automatic procedure based on the method proposed by Jaro; the date of birth, the first and the last names seemed to be the more appropriate identifiers. Including a poorly discriminating identifier like gender did not improve the results. Moreover, adding a second christian name, often missing, increased linkage errors. On the contrary, it seemed that using a phonetic treatment adapted to the French language could improve the results of linkage in comparison to the Soundex. However, whatever, the method used it seems necessary to improve the quality of identifier collection as it could greatly influence linkage results.
authors.affiliation: Department of medical informatics, Dijon University Hospital, France. catherine.quantin@chu-dijon.fr
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Quantin
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Binquet
authors.forename: Karima
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bourquard
authors.forename: Ronny
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pattisina
authors.forename: Béatrice
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gouyon-Cornet
authors.forename: Cyril
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ferdynus
authors.forename: Jean-Bernard
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Gouyon
authors.forename: Allaert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: François-André
mesh_terms: D003219:Confidentiality; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D008498:Medical Record Linkage; D010355:Patient Identification Systems