We present a generalisable strategy for investigating inaccuracies in dating of diagnosis and their effect on estimates of symptoms and delay in UK primary care databases.
Effects of possible inaccuracies in dating of diagnosis on the frequencies and timing of the most commonly reported symptoms were investigated using four increasingly inclusive definitions of first diagnosis/suspicion: 1. "Definite diagnosis" 2. "Ambiguous diagnosis" 3. "First treatment or complication suggesting pre-existing diagnosis", 4 "First relevant test or referral".
The linkage procedure excluded 286 cases from the original sample (114 due to being outside the 17 – 65 year old age band, 86 due to having only archived psychiatric records, 84 due to irreconcilable multiple name matches in the VPCR, and four due to inaccuracy in date of birth match on the VPCR).
This was shown in our previous study (Tate et al, 2009), in which we found inaccuracies in the dating of diagnosis, and again in this study in which we find that rates of coded diagnosis of ovarian cancer are 9% lower than the UK incidence rates.
Lawyers say some of the additional charges against her contain clear inaccuracies in referring to dates and names.
Although we cannot know the precise cause of discontinuation, our study is the first to include a large sample size and verify use through Medicare Part D prescription claims, which overcomes many of the possible inaccuracies in start and stop dates [ 7, 10– 10].
The solicitor general notified the court of the inaccuracies in August 2016; yet, to date, the error remains in the official opinion on the court's website.
However, we acknowledge that problems in recording or recall could contribute to inaccuracies in studies that employ date of onset of symptoms as a measure of disease onset.
Limitations of such studies include imprecision in capture of diabetes onset date, inaccuracies in electronic data, difficulty in distinguishing between type 1 and type 2 diabetes, and biases inherent to retrospective and observational studies.
The lower bound of the window was to address potential inaccuracy of dates in the Physician Billing data and the upper bound was based on the maximum time from diagnosis to surgery that was observed in the Cancer Registry surgery dates.
