Identifying pediatric hypertension in observational data: comparing clinical and claims cohorts in real-world data

Abstract

We conducted retrospective public health surveillance using data from 2006 to 2016 in 7 integrated delivery systems from the US Food and Drug Administration's Sentinel System. We identified pediatric hypertensive patients by clinical and claims-based definitions and compared demographics, baseline profiles, and follow-up time profiles. Among 3 757 803 pediatric patients aged 3 to 17 years, we identified 781 722 children and 551 246 teens with at least 3 blood pressure measurements over 36 months. Of these, 70 315 children (9%) and 47 928 teens (8.7%) met the clinical definition for hypertension, and 22 465 (2.8%) children and 60 952 (11%) of teens met the clinical definition for elevated, nonhypertensive blood pressure. Of the 3.7 million patients, we identified 3246 children and 7293 teens with any claim for hypertension (claims definition). Evidence of hypertension claims among those meeting our clinical definition was poor; 2.2% and 7.3% of clinically hypertensive children and teens had corresponding claims for hypertension. Baseline profiles for patients with claims-based hypertension suggest greater severity of disease compared with clinical patients. Claims-based patients had higher rates of all-cause mortality during follow-up. Pediatric hypertension in claims-based data sources is under-captured but may serve as a marker for greater disease severity. Investigators should understand coding practices when selecting real-world data sources for pediatric hypertension work.

Keywords: administrative claims; electronic health records; epidemiologic methods; pediatric hypertension; real-world evidence.