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EPI-VALID : Validation of an algorithm for identifying patients with epilepsy in the SNDS using data from the CONSTANCES cohort

Adeline Degremont, Catherine Bisquay, Pierre-Alain Jachiet

arXiv, 2024

156,819 participants

Abstract

Introduction: The HAS conducted a study in 2018 using the French National Health Data System (SNDS) on the care pathway of patients with epilepsy. This study used 2 algorithms to identify patients with epilepsy, based on hospitalization for epilepsy, insurance for chronic severe epilepsy, and antiepileptic drug (AE) dispensing, with exclusion of AEs not specific to epilepsy offering a low population estimate, or exclusion of dispensing in a context other than epilepsy (migraine, neuropathic pain, bipolar disorder, alcohol dependence, anxiety) offering a high population estimate. To study the characteristics of these 2 algorithms (low and high populations), we used data from CONSTANCES, a French generalist cohort and its control sample, which are matched to SNDS data. Method: This is a validation study of a method for identifying patients with epilepsy in the SNDS. The study population was patients identified as epileptic according to the algorithms defined in the introduction, applied over the year 2018 and the reference population was all patients for whom there is a mention of epilepsy (free text field) in the inclusion and/or follow-up questionnaires of the CONSTANCES cohort for the years prior to 2019. Results: Among 156,819 patients present in the CONSTANCES cohort in 2018, 689 patients mentioned epilepsy in one of the questionnaires (0.4%). This number is lower than expected: in the literature, the prevalence of epilepsy in the general population is estimated at…

How strong is the evidence?

Evidence Hub reads this as a cohort study, done in people. Its evidence level is 3 of 5 (Moderate · trial / cohort / secondary analysis). Trials without a large randomized design, cohorts and secondary analyses give moderate evidence. Reported size: 156,819 participants or records.

How the five levels of evidence work. The level is assigned automatically from the abstract and can be wrong, so check the paper.

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