Smith Bridget M, Evans Charlesnika T, Ullrich Philip, Burns Stephen, Guihan Marylou, Miskevics Scott, LaVela Sherri L, Rajan Suparna, Weaver Frances M
SCI QUERI and Center for Management of Complex Chronic Care, Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital, 5000 South Fifth Avenue, 151-H, Hines, IL 60141, USA.
J Rehabil Res Dev. 2010;47(8):679-88. doi: 10.1682/jrrd.2009.08.0117.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides integrated services to more than 25,000 veterans with spinal cord injuries and disorders (SCI/D). VA data offer great potential for providing insights into healthcare utilization and morbidity, and these capabilities are central to efforts to improve healthcare for veterans with SCI/D. The objective of this article is to introduce researchers to the use of VA data to examine questions related to SCI/D using examples from Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Quality Enhancement Research Initiative studies. Sources of VA data available to investigators interested in SCI/D-related research include national-level VA administrative and clinical databases and primary data (medical record review, patient surveys). Methods used to identify veterans with SCI/D include the Allocation Resource Center cohort, the Spinal Cord Dysfunction (SCD) Registry, and the VA inpatient SCI flag; only 33% of veterans were included in all three groups (n = 12,306). While neurological level of SCI was unknown for approximately a third of veterans (from SCD Registry data alone), the percent decreased to 13% when augmented with diagnostic codes. Primary data can be used to augment other missing SCI data and to provide more detailed information about complications commonly associated with SCI/D.
美国退伍军人事务部（VA）为超过25000名脊髓损伤和疾病（SCI/D）退伍军人提供综合服务。VA数据在洞察医疗保健利用情况和发病率方面具有巨大潜力，这些能力对于改善SCI/D退伍军人的医疗保健工作至关重要。本文的目的是通过脊髓损伤（SCI）质量提升研究计划研究中的实例，向研究人员介绍如何使用VA数据来研究与SCI/D相关的问题。对SCI/D相关研究感兴趣的研究人员可获取的VA数据来源包括国家级VA行政和临床数据库以及原始数据（病历审查、患者调查）。用于识别SCI/D退伍军人的方法包括分配资源中心队列、脊髓功能障碍（SCD）登记册和VA住院患者SCI标志；只有33%的退伍军人被纳入所有三个组（n = 12306）。虽然约三分之一的退伍军人（仅根据SCD登记册数据）的SCI神经损伤水平未知，但在增加诊断代码后，这一比例降至13%。原始数据可用于补充其他缺失的SCI数据，并提供有关SCI/D常见并发症的更详细信息。
