Strengthening national COPD monitoring using linked health services data

The National Integrated Health Services Information Analysis Asset (NIHSI AA) is an enduring linked data asset developed by the Australia Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). The NIHSI AA provides de-identified information on health service use and mortality within Australia for individuals over time.

COPD treatment can be identified in the NIHSI AA data using information on COPD-specific prescription dispensing in Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) data as well as in hospital and ED diagnosis codes. This information is used to identify people with COPD in the NIHSI AA data and estimate their prevalence.

This technical report details:

• the classifications and codes used to identify people with COPD in the NIHSI AA data based on their PBS dispensing, ED presentations and hospitalisations, and the rationale for their selection
• how the NIHSI AA COPD case finding algorithm operates and presents analysis of COPD cases identified in the data
• the methods used to calculate COPD prevalence using the NIHSI AA data
• the estimated prevalence of COPD by demographics including age, sex, socioeconomic and remoteness area, along with estimates of COPD prevalence over time
• how COPD prevalence estimates derived using the NIHSI AA data compare with prevalence estimates from other sources to understand how well COPD prevalence can be captured using the NIHSI AA data and any limitations.

The methods detailed in this report were applied to derive estimates for the Using linked health services data to strengthen national COPD monitoring In-focus report.