PLoS ONE (Jan 2020)

Classification performance of administrative coding data for detection of invasive fungal infection in paediatric cancer patients

  • Jake C. Valentine,
  • Leon J. Worth,
  • Karin M. Verspoor,
  • Lisa Hall,
  • Daniel K. Yeoh,
  • Karin A. Thursky,
  • Julia E. Clark,
  • Gabrielle M. Haeusler,
  • Ales Vicha

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15, no. 9

Abstract

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Background Invasive fungal infection (IFI) detection requires application of complex case definitions by trained staff. Administrative coding data (ICD-10-AM) may provide a simplified method for IFI surveillance, but accuracy of case ascertainment in children with cancer is unknown. Objective To determine the classification performance of ICD-10-AM codes for detecting IFI using a gold-standard dataset (r-TERIFIC) of confirmed IFIs in paediatric cancer patients at a quaternary referral centre (Royal Children’s Hospital) in Victoria, Australia from 1st April 2004 to 31st December 2013. Methods ICD-10-AM codes denoting IFI in paediatric patients (<18-years) with haematologic or solid tumour malignancies were extracted from the Victorian Admitted Episodes Dataset and linked to the r-TERIFIC dataset. Sensitivity, positive predictive value (PPV) and the F1 scores of the ICD-10-AM codes were calculated. Results Of 1,671 evaluable patients, 113 (6.76%) had confirmed IFI diagnoses according to gold-standard criteria, while 114 (6.82%) cases were identified using the codes. Of the clinical IFI cases, 68 were in receipt of ≥1 ICD-10-AM code(s) for IFI, corresponding to an overall sensitivity, PPV and F1 score of 60%, respectively. Sensitivity was highest for proven IFI (77% [95% CI: 58–90]; F1 = 47%) and invasive candidiasis (83% [95% CI: 61–95]; F1 = 76%) and lowest for other/unspecified IFI (20% [95% CI: 5.05–72%]; F1 = 5.00%). The most frequent misclassification was coding of invasive aspergillosis as invasive candidiasis. Conclusion ICD-10-AM codes demonstrate moderate sensitivity and PPV to detect IFI in children with cancer. However, specific subsets of proven IFI and invasive candidiasis (codes B37.x) are more accurately coded.