Estimating the sensitivity and specificity of matching name-based with non-name-based case registries

• Published in: Epidemiology and infection Vol. 131; no. 1; pp. 669 - 674
• Main Authors: ETKIND, P., TANG, Y., WHELAN, M., RATELLE, S., MURPHY, J., SHARNPRAPAI, S., DEMARIA, A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.08.2003
• Subjects: Accuracy; Acquired immune deficiency syndrome; Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome - epidemiology; AIDS; Biological and medical sciences; Disease control; Epidemiology; Family names; Gender; General aspects; Given names; Health surveillance; HIV; Human immunodeficiency virus; Humans; Identifiers; Infections; Medical sciences; Methodology; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; Names; Public health; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Registries - standards; Reproducibility of Results; Sensitivity and Specificity; Sexually transmitted diseases; Sexually Transmitted Diseases - epidemiology; Social security numbers; STD; Surveillance; Tuberculosis; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary - epidemiology; Wide area networks; Jamaica; United States > US; Massachusetts; Anonymity; Disease notification; Sensitivity; Specificity; Surveillance; Epidemiology
• ISSN: 0950-2688; 1469-4409
• DOI: 10.1017/S0950268803008914

Because non-name-based case registries have recently been used for reporting human immunodeficiency virus infection, this study attempted to define the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of case registry matches using non-name-based registries. The AIDS, sexually transmitted disease (STD), and tuberculosis (TB) case registries were matched using all available information to establish the standard. The registries were then matched again using five increasingly less specific criteria to compare sensitivity, specificity and accuracy. The registries were then also transformed into non-name-based codes as if they were the HIV registry and matched again. With name-based registries, sensitivities increased as the matching criteria became less exacting, while the accuracy declined slightly. Specificities remained close to 100% due to the relatively small number of matched cases. Results from matches of non-name-based registry matches were similar to those of the name-based registry matches. Non-name reporting can be used for data matching with acceptable accuracy.