ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To match Michigan birth and newborn screening records to identify and follow-up potentially unscreened infants, assess data quality, and demonstrate the utility of Link Plus linkage software for matching MCH related administrative datasets. METHODS: Birth and newborn screening records maintained by the Michigan Department of Community Health from January 2007 through March 2008 were used in this study. Link Plus, a freely-available probabilistic record linkage software program developed at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was used to match records. Linkage performance was assessed by the linkage success rate (percentage of valid matches). Follow-up of un-matched records was conducted by the Michigan Newborn Screening Follow-up Program. RESULTS: Nearly all (99.2%) of the 142,178 birth records included in this study were successfully matched to newborn screening records. Following a transition to a web-based electronic birth certificate system and inclusion of a newborn screening card identification number on the birth record in 2008, the linkage success rate increased to 99.6% based on analysis of approximately 18,000 records. Of approximately 600 un-matched records, nearly half had received a newborn screen. Approximately 8% of un-matched records were due to parental refusal of newborn screening. Nine children received an initial screen as a result of this study; one was confirmed as having sickle cell trait. CONCLUSIONS: We have demonstrated that a freely available record linkage software, Link Plus, can be used to successfully match records of MCH databases thereby providing an opportunity for further research and quality assurance investigations.
Subject(s)
Birth Certificates , Data Collection/methods , Live Birth , Medical Record Linkage/methods , Neonatal Screening , Cross-Sectional Studies , Electronic Health Records , Follow-Up Studies , Humans , Infant, Newborn , Internet/organization & administration , Live Birth/epidemiology , Michigan/epidemiology , Neonatal Screening/organization & administration , Patient Identification Systems , Pilot Projects , Program Development , Program Evaluation , Registries , Software/standards , Systems IntegrationSubject(s)
Disability Evaluation , Lung Diseases, Obstructive/diagnosis , Age Factors , Humans , Lung Diseases, Obstructive/epidemiology , Lung Diseases, Obstructive/etiology , Occupational Diseases/diagnosis , Occupational Diseases/epidemiology , Occupational Diseases/etiology , Prognosis , Risk , Romania , Sex Factors , Socioeconomic FactorsSubject(s)
Tuberculosis, Pulmonary/transmission , Adolescent , Adult , Age Factors , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , Humans , Male , Romania , Rural Population , Tuberculosis, Pulmonary/epidemiology , Urban PopulationABSTRACT
An analysis was made, 12 months after strictly supervised treatment which included rifampicin and/or etambutol, of 83 cases of relapses of pulmonary tuberculosis. Therapeutic aspects were studied, as well as problems in relation to the possibility to continue work, as well as temporary invalidity. The therapeutic curing of the relapses was achieved in 74 patients (89,15 percent), while 9 remained with a positive bK in the sputum. The recovered subjects continued their activity without any changes in the working place, and retirement was accepted for active tuberculosis in 12,5 percent of the patients, while retirement for posttuberculous syndrome in another 7,14 percent of the patients. Males were predominant (81,81 percent of the total), mostly aged between 30 and 49 years, originating from rural environments.
