Exploration of Temporal ICD Coding Bias Related to Acute Diabetic Conditions

AMIA Annu Symp Proc. 2015 Nov 5:2015:2005-14. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Electronic Health Records (EHRs) hold great promise for secondary data reuse but have been reported to contain severe biases. The temporal characteristics of coding biases remain unclear. This study used a survival analysis approach to reveal temporal bias trends for coding acute diabetic conditions among 268 diabetes patients. For glucose-controlled ketoacidosis patients we found it took an average of 7.5 months for the incorrect code to be removed, while for glucose-controlled hypoglycemic patients it took an average of 9 months. We also examined blood glucose lab values and performed a case review to confirm the validity of our findings. We discuss the implications of our findings and propose future work.

MeSH terms

  • Bias*
  • Blood Glucose
  • Diabetes Mellitus*
  • Humans
  • Hypoglycemic Agents
  • International Classification of Diseases*

Substances

  • Blood Glucose
  • Hypoglycemic Agents