J R Coll Gen Pract. 1977 May;27(178):306-14.
The North Staffordshire (Stoke) Morbidity Survey was set up to bring together data about the total use of general practice, hospital and local authority services by each individual patient in a representative sample of the population of Stoke, and to examine the associated problems of data linkage and confidentiality. Approximately 47.8 per cent (32.1 per cent if allowance is made for all measurable possible errors) of the patients attending hospital and 43.8 per cent of patients attending local authority services during the year, did not attend their general practitioner.Primary automation of the registered list of patients at risk is essential to the success of any automated linkage study. Where the list consists of Hogben numbers to identify individuals, this also ensures the necessary confidentiality of sensitive data.
北斯塔福德郡（斯托克）发病率调查旨在收集斯托克代表性人口样本中每位患者使用全科医疗、医院和地方当局服务的总体数据，并研究数据链接和保密性相关问题。当年，约47.8%（若考虑所有可测量的可能误差则为32.1%）的住院患者以及43.8%的使用地方当局服务的患者未去看全科医生。对有风险患者的登记名单进行初步自动化处理对于任何自动化链接研究的成功至关重要。若名单由用于识别个体的霍格本编号组成，这也能确保敏感数据的必要保密性。
