Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 14, 2026
Cortical Bone Assessment Using Ultrasonic Guided Waves: A Reproducibility Study in a Healthy Population
Published on: January 31, 2025
The validity of administrative data to identify hip fractures is high--a systematic review
Marie Hudson1, Antonio Avina-Zubieta, Diane Lacaille
1Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, Jewish General Hospital, Room A-725, 3755 Cote Ste Catherine Road, Montreal, Quebec H3T 1E2, Canada. marie.hudson@mcgill.ca
Objective:
To determine the validity of the diagnostic algorithms for osteoporosis and fractures in administrative data.
Study Design And Setting:
A systematic search was conducted to identify studies that reported the validity of a diagnostic algorithm for osteoporosis and/or fractures using administrative data.
Results:
Twelve studies were reviewed. The validity of the diagnosis of osteoporosis in administrative data was fair when at least 3 years of data from hospital and physician visit claims were used (area under the receiver operating characteristic [ROC] curve [AUC]=0.70) or when pharmacy data were used (with or without the use of hospital and physician visit claims data, AUC>0.70). Nonetheless, the positive predictive values (PPVs) were low (<0.60). There was good evidence to support the use of hospital data to identify hip fractures (sensitivity: 69-97%; PPV: 63-96%) and the addition of physician claims diagnostic and procedural codes to hospitalization diagnostic codes improved these characteristics (sensitivity: 83-97%; PPV: 86-98%). Vertebral fractures were difficult to identify using administrative data. There was some evidence to support the use of administrative data to define other fractures that do not require hospitalization.
Conclusions:
Administrative data can be used to identify hip fractures. Existing diagnostic algorithms to identify osteoporosis and vertebral fractures in administrative data are suboptimal.
