Division of Primary Care, Queen's Medical Centre, UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies, University of Nottingham, Derby Road, Nottingham NG7 2UH, UK.
J Epidemiol Community Health. 2012 Sep;66(9):791-5. doi: 10.1136/jech.2010.120154. Epub 2011 May 13.
Data from primary care records could potentially provide more comprehensive population-level information on smoking prevalence at lower cost and in a more timely fashion than commissioned national surveys. Therefore, we compared smoking prevalence calculated from a database of primary care electronic medical records with that from a 'gold standard' national survey to determine whether or not medical records can provide accurate population-level data on smoking.
For each year from 2000 to 2008, the annual recorded prevalence of current smoking among patients in The Health Improvement Network (THIN) Database was compared with the 'General Household Survey (GHS)-predicted prevalence' of smoking in the THIN population, calculated through indirect standardisation by applying age-, sex- and region-specific smoking rates from the corresponding GHS to the THIN population.
Completeness of smoking data recording in THIN improved steadily in the study period. By 2008, there was good agreement between recorded smoking prevalence in THIN and the GHS-predicted prevalence; the GHS-predicted prevalence of current smoking in the THIN population was 21.8% for men and 20.2% for women, and the recorded prevalence was 22.4% and 18.9%, respectively.
The prevalence of current smoking recorded within THIN has converged towards that which would be expected if GHS smoking rates are applied to the THIN population. Data from electronic primary care databases such as THIN may provide an alternative means of monitoring national smoking prevalence.
初级保健记录中的数据可能以更低的成本和更及时的方式提供更全面的人群吸烟流行率信息，比委托进行的全国性调查更具优势。因此，我们比较了从初级保健电子病历数据库中计算得出的吸烟流行率与“黄金标准”全国调查的数据，以确定病历是否可以提供关于吸烟的准确人群数据。
对于 2000 年至 2008 年的每一年，将 The Health Improvement Network（THIN）数据库中患者的当前吸烟年度记录流行率与 THIN 人群中通过间接标准化计算得出的“一般家庭调查（GHS）-预测吸烟率”进行比较，通过将相应 GHS 中的年龄、性别和地区特定吸烟率应用于 THIN 人群，来计算预测流行率。
在研究期间，THIN 中吸烟数据记录的完整性稳步提高。到 2008 年，THIN 中记录的吸烟流行率与 GHS 预测的流行率之间具有良好的一致性；THIN 人群中男性当前吸烟的 GHS 预测流行率为 21.8%，女性为 20.2%，记录的流行率分别为 22.4%和 18.9%。
THIN 中记录的当前吸烟流行率已趋近于应用 GHS 吸烟率时所预期的流行率。THIN 等电子初级保健数据库中的数据可能为监测全国吸烟流行率提供了另一种方法。
