Table 1 Criteria and Data Sources for the BC Hepatitis Testers Cohort (BC-HTC) and current analysis
From: Twin epidemics of new and prevalent hepatitis C infections in Canada: BC Hepatitis Testers Cohort
Criteria for Inclusion in BC-HTC All individuals: • tested at the centralized provincial laboratory for HCV or HIV OR • reported in BC as a confirmed case of HCV OR • reported in BC enhanced surveillance system as a confirmed case of HIV or AIDS (all reports) OR • reported in BC as a confirmed case of HBV OR • reported in BC as a confirmed case of active TB (latent cases excluded) OR • included in BC Enhanced Strain Surveillance System (EHSSS) as an acute HBV or HCV case | |
All individuals meeting at least one the above criteria were linked internally across all their tests and case reports. Those with a valid personal health number (PHN) were then sent for deterministic linkage with province-wide Cancer and Ministry of Health (MoH) datasets | |
Provincial Communicable Disease Data Sources • BC-PHL HIV laboratory testing datasets (tests: ELISA, Western blot, NAAT, p24, culture) • BC-PHL HCV laboratory tests datasets (tests: antibody, HCV RNA, genotyping) • HIV/AIDS Information System (HAISYS) (public health HIV/AIDS case reports) • Integrated Public Health information System (iPHIS) (public health case reports of HCV, HBV, and TB) • Enhanced Strain Surveillance System (EHSSS) (risk factor data on a subset of acute HCV and acute HBV cases) | Data Date Ranges: HIV lab data: 1988–2013 HCV lab data: 1992–2013 HAISYS: 1980–2013 iPHIS: 1990–2013 EHSSS: 2000–2013 |
Cancer and MoH Administrative Data Sources • BC Cancer Registry (BCCR) (primary tumour registry, excludes metastatic cancers) • Discharge Abstracts Dataset (DAD) (hospitalization records) • Medical Services Plan (MSP) (physician diagnostic and billing data) • PharmaCare/PharmaNet (Pharma) (prescription drug dispensations) • BC Vital Statistics (VS) (deaths registry) | Data Date Ranges: BCCR: 1970–2012 DAD: 1985–2013Q1 MSP: 1990–2012 Pharma: 1985–2012 VS: 1985–2013 |
The final BC-HTC comprises all individuals successfully linked on PHN to the MoH Client Roster (a registry of all BC residents enrolled in the publicly-funded universal healthcare system) | |
Eligibility for current analysis • all subjects included in final, linked BC-HTC with at least one valid HCV test (antibody, HCV RNA, or genotype) (1992–2013) or HCV case report (1990–2013) • subjects were censored for analysis date of death or December 31, 2013, whichever came first • excluded all data preceding subject’s recorded date of birth • excluded all data occurring more than 7 days after subject’s recorded date of death • excluded HCV antibody tests in infants less than 18 months in the absence of HCV RNA confirmatory testing | |