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Table 3 Alcohol dependence, illicit drug dependence and tobacco use diagnoses: comparison of administrative diagnoses against chart notation during the past 12 months prior to and including the index date

From: Validation of key behaviourally based mental health diagnoses in administrative data: suicide attempt, alcohol abuse, illicit drug abuse and tobacco use

  Alcohol Problems, Abuse/Dependence
  Unweighted Estimates, % b (N in fraction)
Sample Agreement Sensitivity Specificity PPV NPV
Suicide Death 90 (331/368) 74 (90/121) 98 (241/247) 94 (90/96) 89 (241/272)
Control 90 (327/362) 54 (28/52) 96 (299/310) 72 (28/39) 93 (299/323)
AD New User 90 (515/571) 63 (73/116) 97 (442/455) 85 (73/86) 91 (442/485)
Combineda 90 (658/730) 68 (118/173) 97 (540/557) 87 (118/135) 91 (540/595)
  Weighted Estimates, % b (95% confidence interval)
Suicide Death 90 (87, 94) 78 (70, 87) 97 (95, 100) 94 (88, 100) 89 (84, 93)
Control 90 (85, 95) 55 (34, 75) 97 (95, 99) 80 (67, 94) 91 (86, 96)
AD New User 91 (87, 94) 59 (46, 73) 98 (96, 100) 86 (75, 97) 91 (88, 95)
Combineda 90 (85, 95) 55 (35, 75) 97 (95, 99) 80 (68, 93) 91 (86, 96)
  Illicit Drug Use/Abuse/Dependence
  Unweighted Estimates, % b (N in fraction)
  Agreement Sensitivity Specificity PPV NPV
Suicide Death 90 (331/368) 74 (26/35) 92 (305/333) 48 (26/54) 97 (305/314)
Control 96 (348/362) 58 (11/19) 98 (337/343) 65 (11/17) 98 (337/345)
AD New User 93 (533/571) 70 (38/54) 96 (495/517) 63 (38/60) 97 (495/511)
Combineda 93 (679/730) 69 (37/54) 95 (642/676) 52 (37/71) 97 (642/659)
  Weighted Estimates, % b (95% confidence interval)
Suicide Death 90 (86, 94) 78 (62, 94) 92 (88, 95) 51 (35, 67) 97 (95 99)
Control 97 (94, 99) 61 (30, 91) 99 (97, 100) 70 (43, 96) 98 (96, 100)
AD New User 91 (85, 96) 54 (24, 85) 95 (92, 98) 58 (37, 79) 94 (89, 100)
Combineda 97 (94, 99) 61 (33, 89) 99 (97, 100) 69 (45, 93) 98 (96, 100)
  Tobacco Use
  Unweighted Estimates, % b (N in fraction)
  Agreement Sensitivity Specificity PPV NPV
Suicide Death 73 (267/368) 42 (70/167) 98 (197/201) 95 (70/74) 67 (197/294)
Control 76 (274/362) 36 (46/128) 97 (228/234) 89 (46/52) 74 (228/310)
AD New User 74 (424/571) 40 (95/237) 99 (329/334) 95 (95/100) 70 (329/471)
Combineda 74 (541/730) 39 (116/295) 98 (425/435) 92 (116/126) 70 (425/604)
  Weighted Estimates, % b (95% confidence interval)
Suicide Death 70 (64, 76) 42 (33, 52) 97 (94, 100) 94 (87, 100) 63 (56, 70)
Control 76 (70, 82) 39 (27, 50) 98 (96, 100) 91 (83, 99) 73 (66, 80)
AD New User 77 (72, 82) 44 (34, 54) 99 (97, 100) 95 (90, 100) 73 (67, 79)
Combineda 76 (70, 82) 39 (27, 50) 98 (96, 100) 91 (84, 99) 73 (66, 80)
  1. Note: For alcohol dependence, kappa values are 0.76 for suicide cases, 0.57 for controls and 0.66 for AD new users. For illicit drug dependence, kappa values are 0.53 for suicide cases, 0.55 for controls and 0.63 for AD new users.
  2. Abbreviation: NA is not available, AD is antidepressant; PPV is positive predictive value of an administrative diagnosis; NPV is the negative predictive value of an administrative diagnosis.
  3. a Combined sample of suicide deaths and controls
  4. b Rounded to a whole number
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BMC Health Services Research

ISSN: 1472-6963

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