title: Longitudinal study on pediatric dyslipidemia in population-based claims database.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the rate of lipid testing among children from a large US medical insurance claims database, describe the characteristics of pediatric dyslipidemia, and assess the sensitivity of the International Classification of Disease, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) codes for identifying dyslipidemic children.
  
  
  METHODS
  This retrospective cohort study used the claims data from the Integrated Healthcare Information Services (IHCIS), for the years 2003-2006. Two study cohorts consisted of children with laboratory-defined and diagnosis/treatment-defined dyslipidemia, respectively. They were compared to age- and gender-matched children without dyslipidemia, with respect to co-morbidities during the 6-month prior to and 12-month after the first dyslipidemic laboratory value or diagnosis/treatment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seven per cent of the children who had laboratory values available in the database had a cholesterol test during the study period. Only 15% of laboratory-defined children (n = 23,475) had a dyslipidemia diagnosis. Cholesterol-modifying medications were rarely prescribed. Substantially more laboratory-defined children than their comparators were obese (8 times), had diabetes mellitus (10 times), or had hypertension (5 times). These co-morbidities were even higher among diagnosis/treatment-defined children.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The rate of lipid testing among children was low. The ICD-9-CM diagnostic codes showed low sensitivity against laboratory definitions. Though only a small proportion of dyslipidemic children were diagnosed or treated with a medication, co-morbidities associated with dyslipidemia were common.
authors.affiliation: Degge Group, Ltd, USA. jli@deggegroup.com
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Stephen P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Motsko
authors.forename: Earl L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Goehring
authors.forename: Ruby
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vendiola
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Maneno
authors.forename: Judith K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Jones
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood*; D016208:Databases, Factual; D050171:Dyslipidemias / Q000097:blood* / Q000145:classification* / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007345:Insurance Claim Review; D038801:International Classification of Diseases / Q000592:standards*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010372:Pediatrics; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D002784:Cholesterol