Van den Brandt P A, Schouten L J, Goldbohm R A, Dorant E, Hunen P M
Department of Epidemiology, University of Limburg, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Int J Epidemiol. 1990 Sep;19(3):553-8. doi: 10.1093/ije/19.3.553.
A method has been developed to determine the optimal linkage key for record linkage between the cancer registry and a large-scale prospective cohort study in the Netherlands. The proposed linkage procedure is a two-stage process in which the initial computerized linkage using a particular linkage key is followed by visual inspection with additional information to separate the computer matches into true and false positives. In the determination of the optimal key, both informativeness and susceptibility to error of personal identifiers were taken into account. The performance of the various keys in the linkage was expressed in terms of sensitivity and predictive value of a reported computer match. The key, consisting of date of birth, first four characters of the family name and gender was the optimal choice, with a sensitivity of 98% and an initial predictive value of a computer match of 98%. When additional information on migration, place of birth and first initial was collected in the second stage, it was possible to eliminate the false positives from the reported computer matches without loss of true positives. Thus, the sensitivity remained constant whereas the secondary predictive value of accepted matches was maximized.
已开发出一种方法来确定荷兰癌症登记处与大规模前瞻性队列研究之间进行记录链接的最佳链接键。提议的链接程序分两个阶段进行，首先使用特定链接键进行初始计算机化链接，然后通过目视检查并结合其他信息，将计算机匹配结果分为真阳性和假阳性。在确定最佳键时，考虑了个人标识符的信息性和易出错性。链接中各种键的性能用报告的计算机匹配的敏感性和预测值来表示。由出生日期、姓氏的前四个字符和性别组成的键是最佳选择，敏感性为98%，计算机匹配的初始预测值为98%。在第二阶段收集有关移民、出生地和名字首字母的其他信息后，可以在不损失真阳性的情况下消除报告的计算机匹配中的假阳性。因此，敏感性保持不变，而接受匹配的二次预测值最大化。
