Stroke surveillance in Manitoba, Canada: estimates from administrative databases.

This study investigated the use of population-based administrative databases for stroke surveillance. First, a meta-analysis was conducted of four studies, identified via a PubMed search, which estimated the sensitivity and specificity of hospital data for ascertaining cases of stroke when clinical registries or medical charts were the gold standard. Subsequently, case-ascertainment algorithms based on hospital, physician and prescription drug records were developed and applied to Manitoba's administrative data, and prevalence estimates were obtained for fiscal years 1995/96 to 2003/04 by age group, sex, region of residence and income quintile. The meta-analysis results revealed some over-ascertainment of stroke cases from hospital data when the algorithm was based on diagnosis codes for any type of cerebrovascular disease (Mantel-Haenszel Odds-Ratio [OR] - 1.70 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.53 - 1.88]). Analyses of Manitoba administrative data revealed that while the total number of stroke cases varied substantially across the algorithms, the trend in prevalence was stable regardless of the algorithm adopted.