title: Validity of vascular trauma codes at major trauma centres.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The use of administrative databases in vascular injury research has been increasing, but the validity of the diagnosis codes used in this research is uncertain. We assessed the positive predictive value (PPV) of International Classification of Diseases, tenth revision (ICD-10), vascular injury codes in administrative claims data in Ontario.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a retrospective validation study using the Canadian Institute for Health Information Discharge Abstract Database, an administrative database that records all hospital admissions in Canada. We evaluated 380 randomly selected hospital discharge abstracts from the 2 main trauma centres in Toronto, Ont., St.Michael's Hospital and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, between Apr. 1, 2002, and Mar. 31, 2010. We then compared these records with the corresponding patients' hospital charts to assess the level of agreement for procedure coding. We calculated the PPV and sensitivity to estimate the validity of vascular injury diagnosis coding.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The overall PPV for vascular injury coding was estimated to be 95% (95% confidence interval [CI] 92.3-96.8). The PPV among code groups for neck, thorax, abdomen, upper extremity and lower extremity injuries ranged from 90.8 (95% CI 82.2-95.5) to 97.4 (95% CI 91.0-99.3), whereas sensitivity ranged from 90% (95% CI 81.5-94.8) to 98.7% (95% CI 92.9-99.8).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Administrative claims hospital discharge data based on ICD-10 diagnosis codes have a high level of validity when identifying cases of vascular injury.
  
  
  METHODS
  Observational Study Level III.
authors.affiliation: The Li Ka Shing Knoweledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont., and the Division of Vascular Surgery, Department of Surgery, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Abdulmajeed
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Altoijry
authors.forename: Mohammed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Al-Omran
authors.forename: Thomas F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Lindsay
authors.forename: K Wayne
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Johnston
authors.forename: Magda
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Melo
authors.forename: Muhammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mamdani
mesh_terms: D002170:Canada; D059019:Clinical Coding; D006801:Humans; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014193:Trauma Centers; D057772:Vascular System Injuries / Q000145:classification*