Abstract
Objectives: We aimed to design and test a method to extract information on antithrombotic therapy from anonymised free-text notes in the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD).
Setting: General practice database representative of the UK.
Participants: All patients undergoing total hip replacement (THR, n=25 898) or total knee replacement (TKR, n=22 231) between January 2008 and October 2012 were included. Antithrombotic drug use related to THR or TKR was identified using anonymised free text and prescription data.
Primary and secondary outcome measures: Internal validity of our newly designed method was determined by calculating positive predictive values (PPVs) of hits for predefined keywords in a random sample of anonymised free-text notes. In order to determine potential detection bias, total joint replacement (TJR) patient characteristics were compared as per their status of exposure to antithrombotics.
Results: PPVs ranging between 97% and 99% for new oral anticoagulants (NOAC) or low-molecular weight heparins (LMWH) exposure related to TJR were obtained with our method. Our search strategy increased detection rates by 57%, yielding a total proportion of 18.5% of all THR and 18.6% of all TKR surgeries. Identified users of NOACs and LMWHs were largely similar with regards to age, sex, lifestyle, disease and drug history compared to patients without identified drug use.
Conclusions: We have developed a useful method to identify additional exposure to NOACs or LMWHs with TJR surgery.
Original language | English |
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Article number | e009017 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | BMJ Open |
Volume | 5 |
Issue number | 11 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Jan 2015 |
Keywords
- TOTAL HIP-REPLACEMENT
- KNEE REPLACEMENT
- ATRIAL-FIBRILLATION
- RIVAROXABAN
- DABIGATRAN
- APIXABAN
- SURGERY
- RISK