Objectives and setting: Conflicting results from studies using electronic health records to evaluate the associations between type 2 diabetes and cancer fuel concerns regarding potential biases. This study aimed to describe completeness of cancer recording in UK primary care data linked to hospital admissions records.
Design: Patients aged 40+ years with insulin or oral antidiabetic prescriptions in Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) primary care without type 1 diabetes were matched by age, sex and general practitioner practice to non-diabetics. Those eligible for linkage to Hospital Episode Statistics Admitted Patient Care (HES APC), and with follow-up during April 1997-December 2006 were included.
Primary and secondary outcome measures: Cancer recording and date of first record of cancer were compared. Characteristics of patients with cancer most likely to have the diagnosis recorded only in a single data source were assessed. Relative rates of cancer estimated from the two datasets were compared.
Participants: 53 585 patients with type 2 diabetes matched to 47 435 patients without diabetes were included.
Results: Of all cancers (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer) recorded in CPRD, 83% were recorded in HES APC. 94% of cases in HES APC were recorded in CPRD. Concordance was lower when restricted to same-site cancer records, and was negatively associated with increasing age. Relative rates for cancer were similar in both datasets.
Conclusions: Good concordance in cancer recording was found between CPRD and HES APC among type 2 diabetics and matched controls. Linked data may reduce misclassification and increase case ascertainment when analysis focuses on site-specific cancers.
Keywords: cancer; concordance; electronic health records; hospital admissions; primary care; type 2 diabetes.
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