Are routinely collected NHS administrative records suitable for endpoint identification in clinical trials? Evidence from the West of Scotland coronary prevention study

Barry, S. J. E. , Dinnett, E., Kean, S., Gaw, A. and Ford, I. (2013) Are routinely collected NHS administrative records suitable for endpoint identification in clinical trials? Evidence from the West of Scotland coronary prevention study. PLoS ONE, 8(9), e75379. (doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0075379) (PMID:24058681) (PMCID:PMC3772901)

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Abstract

Background: Routinely collected electronic patient records are already widely used in epidemiological research. In this work we investigated the potential for using them to identify endpoints in clinical trials.<p></p> Methods: The events recorded in the West of Scotland Coronary Prevention Study (WOSCOPS), a large clinical trial of pravastatin in middle-aged hypercholesterolaemic men in the 1990s, were compared with those in the record-linked deaths and hospitalisations records routinely collected in Scotland.<p></p> Results: We matched 99% of fatal study events by date. We showed excellent matching (97%) of the causes of fatal endpoint events and good matching (.80% for first events) of the causes of nonfatal endpoint events with a slightly lower rate of mismatching of record linkage than study events (19% of first study myocardial infarctions (MI) and 4% of first record linkage MIs not matched as MI). We also investigated the matching of non-endpoint events and showed a good level of matching, with .78% of first stroke/TIA events being matched as stroke/TIA. The primary reasons for mismatches were record linkage data recording readmissions for procedures or previous events, differences between the diagnoses in the routinely collected data and the conclusions of the clinical trial expert adjudication committee, events occurring outside Scotland and therefore being missed by record linkage data, miscoding of cardiac events in hospitalisations data as ‘unspecified chest pain’, some general miscoding in the record linkage data and some record linkage errors.<p></p> Conclusions: We conclude that routinely collected data could be used for recording cardiovascular endpoints in clinical trials and would give very similar results to rigorously collected clinical trial data, in countries with unified health systems such as Scotland. The endpoint types would need to be carefully thought through and an expert endpoint adjudication committee should be involved.<p></p>

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Kean, Ms Sharon and Dinnett, Dr Eleanor and Gaw, Dr Allan and Barry, Dr Sarah and Ford, Professor Ian
Authors: Barry, S. J. E., Dinnett, E., Kean, S., Gaw, A., and Ford, I.
College/School:College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Health & Wellbeing > Robertson Centre
College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Cardiovascular & Metabolic Health
Journal Name:PLoS ONE
Publisher:Public Library of Science
ISSN:1932-6203
ISSN (Online):1932-6203
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2013 The Authors
First Published:First published in PLoS ONE 8(9):e75379
Publisher Policy:Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

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Project CodeAward NoProject NamePrincipal InvestigatorFunder's NameFunder RefLead Dept
488042Scottish Health Informatics Programme ( SHIP )Ian FordWellcome Trust (WELLCOME)086113/Z/08/ZIHW - ROBERTSON CENTRE
488043Scottish Health Informatics Programme ( SHIP )Ian FordWellcome Trust (WELLCOME)086113/Z/08/ZIHW - ROBERTSON CENTRE