Improving the Identification of Out-of-Hospital Sudden Cardiac Deaths in a General Practice Research Database.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The ascertainment of sudden cardiac death (SCD) in electronic health databases is challenging.

Objectives

Our objective was to evaluate the applicability of the validated computer definition of SCD developed by Chung et al. in a retrospective study of SCD and domperidone exposure in the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD).

Methods

We assessed out-of-hospital SCD by applying the validated computer definition and linking data with Hospital Episode Statistics and death certificates. We developed a separate algorithm to identify end-of-life care in noninstitutionalized patients and excluded associated deaths from the analysis to address their misclassification as SCD.

Results

Of the 681,104 patients in the study cohort, 3444 were initially classif

SUBMITTER: Varas-Lorenzo C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5042942 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature