Suitability of current definitions of ambulatory care sensitive conditions for research in emergency department patients: a secondary health data analysis
Frick, Johann, Moeckel, Martin, Muller, Reinhold, Searle, Julia, Somasundaram, Rajan, and Slagman, Anna (2017) Suitability of current definitions of ambulatory care sensitive conditions for research in emergency department patients: a secondary health data analysis. BMJ Open, 7 (10).
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Abstract
Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the suitability of existing definitions of ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSC) in the setting of an emergency department (ED) by assessing ACSC prevalence in patients admitted to hospital after their ED stay. The secondary aim was to identify ACSC suitable for specific application in the ED setting.
Design: Observational clinical study with secondary health data.
Setting: Two EDs of the Charite-Universitatsmedizin Berlin.
Participants: All medical ED patients of the 'The Charite Emergency Medicine Study' (CHARITEM) study, who were admitted as inpatients during the 1-year study period (n=13 536).
Outcome measures: Prevalence of ACSC.
Results: Prevalence of ACSC in the study population differed significantly depending on the respective ACSC set used. Prevalence ranged between 19.1% (95% CI 18.4% to 19.8%; n=2586) using the definition by Albrecht et al and 36.6% (95% CI 35.8% to 37.5%; n=4960) using the definition of Naumann et al. (p<0.001). Overall ACSC prevalence (ie, when using all diagnoses used in any of the assessed ACSC-definitions) was 48.1% (95% CI 47.2% to 48.9%; n=6505). Some frequently observed diagnoses such as 'convulsion and epilepsy' (prevalence: 3.4%, 95% CI 3.1% to 3.7%; n=455), 'diseases of the urinary system' (prevalence: 1.4%; 95% CI 1.2% to 1.6%; n=191) or 'atrial fibrillation and flutter' (prevalence: 1.0%, 95% CI 0.8% to 1.2%, n=134) are not included in all of the current ACSC definitions.
Conclusions: The results highlight the need for an optimised, ED-specific ACSC definition. Particular ACSC diagnoses (such as 'convulsion and epilepsy' or 'diseases of the urinary system' and others) seem to be of special relevance in an ED population but are not included in all available ACSC definitions. Further research towards the development of a suitable and specific ACSC definition for research in the ED setting seems warranted.
| Item ID: | 52403 |
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| Item Type: | Article (Research - C1) |
| ISSN: | 2044-6055 |
| Additional Information: | This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0 |
| Date Deposited: | 07 Feb 2018 07:42 |
| FoR Codes: | 42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4206 Public health > 420699 Public health not elsewhere classified @ 100% |
| SEO Codes: | 92 HEALTH > 9204 Public Health (excl. Specific Population Health) > 920499 Public Health (excl. Specific Population Health) not elsewhere classified @ 100% |
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