AVOHILMO register

Summary

Each data item refers to one outpatient contact. Distinct patients having multiple contacts can be distinguished. Linkage possibilities to other national registers using the unique personal identification is a major strength. However, the data contents in the minimum dataset are fairly limited, clinical parameters, health behaviour data and other crucial risk adjustment measures are missing.

Type of data

Data Source
Registry

Type of Study

Data gathering method
Registries

Access to data

Conditions of access

Type of available data (e.g. anonymised microdata, aggregated tables, etc.)
Register data

Formats available
SAS

Coverage

Coverage Years of collection, reference years, and sample sizes
Data are collected on an annual basis since 2011.

First year of collection
2011

Stratification if applicable

Base used for sampling

Geographical coverage and breakdowns

Age range

Statistical representativeness
Population representative

Coverage of main and cross-cutting topics
AVOHILMO register (THL) provides data for all patient encounters within the publicly provided primary care (primary health care centers) in Finland since 2011. Avohilmo register contains data on: · anonymised patient level data per hospital stay (sex, age, place of residence, type of visit/patient contact) · medical data on hospital stay (major and additional diagnoses according to ICD-10 standards, procedures/treatments) · points awarded per hospital stay based on DRG system · DRG codes per hospital

Linkage

Standardisation

Possibility of linkage among databases
Individual level data can be linked using the unique and national personal identification code. However, linkage requires substantial justification on behalf of researchers due to data protection protocols.

Data quality

Entry errors if applicable
The data quality may be poor since the development and use are at an early stage.

Breaks
The data quality may be poor since the development and use are at an early stage.

Consistency of terminology or coding used during collection
The data quality may be poor since the development and use are at an early stage. There are large variation in the diagnosis coding.

Governance

Contact information
Hanna Rautiainen
THL
P.O. Box 30
FI-00271 Helsinki Finland Phone: +358 29 524 6000
Email: hanna.rautiainen@thl.fi
Url:

Timeliness, transparency