A novel method to monitor rheumatoid arthritis prevalence using hospital and medication databases.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Most estimates of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) prevalence, including all official figures in Australia and many other countries, are based on self-report. Self-report has been shown to overestimate RA, but the 'gold standard' of reviewing individual medical records is costly, time-consuming and impractical for large-scale research and population monitoring. This study provides an algorithm to estimate RA cases using administrative data that can be adjusted for use in multiple contexts to provide the first approximate RA cohort in Australia that does not rely on self-report.

Methods

Survey data on self-reported RA and medications from 25 467 respondents of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (ALSWH) were linked with data from the national medication re

SUBMITTER: Koller-Smith L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11251372 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature