Administrative data outperformed single-day chart review for comorbidity measure.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this article is to compare the Charlson comorbidity index derived from a rapid single-day chart review with the same index derived from administrative data to determine how well each predicted inpatient mortality and nosocomial infection.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional study.

SETTING

The study was conducted in the context of the Swiss Nosocomial Infection Prevalence (SNIP) study in six hospitals, canton of Valais, Switzerland, in 2002 and 2003.

PARTICIPANTS

We included 890 adult patients hospitalized from acute care wards.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

The Charlson comorbidity index was recorded during one single-day for the SNIP study, and from administrative data (International Classification of Disease, 10th revision codes). Outcomes of interest were hospital mortality and nosocomial infection.

RESULTS

Out of 17 comorbidities from the Charlson index, 11 had higher prevalence in administrative data, 4 a lower and two a similar compared with the single-day chart review. Kappa values between both databases ranged from - 0.001 to 0.56. Using logistic regression to predict hospital outcomes, Charlson index derived from administrative data provided a higher C statistic compared with single-day chart review for hospital mortality (C = 0.863 and C = 0.795, respectively) and for nosocomial infection (C = 0.645 and C = 0.614, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS

The Charlson index derived from administrative data was superior to the index derived from rapid single-day chart review. We suggest therefore using administrative data, instead of single-day chart review, when assessing comorbidities in the context of the evaluation of nosocomial infections.