Reliability of administrative data to identify sexually transmitted infections for population health: a systematic review

What is it about?

Many population health studies rely upon the identification of individuals with disease using administrative codes recorded in the individuals' medical record. While these codes are often used, their reliability to accurately identify populations varies. In this review of the literature, we sought to find prior studies that used administrative codes to identify individuals diagnosed with sexually transmitted infections. We found very few studies that actually measured whether or not the administrative codes could reliably identify positive disease cases. Because of the limited evidence in prior studies, we conclude that researchers should measure the accuracy of using administrative codes to identify sexually transmitted infection cases for research.

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