title: Matching AIDS and tuberculosis registry data to identify AIDS/tuberculosis comorbidity cases in California.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the sensitivity and positive predictive value (PPV) of a registry data linkage procedure used in the California AIDS and Tuberculosis (TB) Registry Data Linkage Study to identify AIDS/TB comorbidity cases in California. The California AIDS registry data from 1981 to 2006 were linked to the California TB registry data from 1996 to 2006 using LinkPlus, a probabilistic record linkage program developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and matched results were manually reviewed to determine true or false matches. We estimated the sensitivity of this procedure to range from 98.0 per cent (95% confidence interval, CI: 97.3%, 98.7%) to 98.8 per cent (95% CI: 98.1%, 99.2%), and the PPV to be 100 per cent (95% CI: 96.8%, 100.0%). Our study demonstrated the feasibility of using this linkage procedure to match AIDS and TB registry data with a very high degree of accuracy.
authors.affiliation: California Department of Public Health, CA, USA.  qiangxia@post.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.affiliation: California Department of Public Health, USA.
authors.forename: Janice L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Westenhouse
authors.affiliation: California Department of Public Health, USA.
authors.forename: Alan F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Schultz
authors.affiliation: California Department of Public Health, USA.
authors.forename: Atsuko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nonoyama
authors.affiliation: California Department of Public Health, USA.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Elms
authors.affiliation: University of California, Davis, USA.
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: California Department of Public Health, USA.
authors.forename: Lisette
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tabshouri
authors.affiliation: California Department of Public Health, USA.
authors.forename: Juan D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Ruiz
authors.affiliation: California Department of Public Health, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Flood
mesh_terms: D002140:California / Q000453:epidemiology; D015897:Comorbidity; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D012042:Registries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000453:epidemiology*
keywords: acquired immunodeficiency syndrome; comorbidity; positive predictive value; registries; sensitivity; tuberculosis