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Using Administrative Data to Examine Health Disparities and Outcomes in Neurological Diseases of the Elderly

  • Dementia (KS Marder, Section Editor)
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Abstract

The fields of neurodegenerative disease and dementia research have grown considerably in the last several decades. Due to tremendous efforts of basic and clinical research scientists, we know a great deal about dementia risk factors and have multiple treatment options. Clinician recognition of cognitive impairment has increased considerably, national policies which support screening for and documenting cognitive dysfunction now exist, and public awareness of neurodegenerative disease has never been greater. These conditions promote (and demand) the growth of translational epidemiology and health services research, which focuses on examining outcomes in groups of individuals as a function of health care experiences. This review discusses the use of administrative data to answer health care outcomes and disparities questions in dementia. Of particular interest are publically available datasets that contain varying amounts of diagnostic, clinical, pharmacy, and patient information. Methodological challenges that are frequently encountered and must be understood to minimize biased inference are also discussed.

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Conflict of Interest

Allison W. Willis declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Blockley Hall, 723, 423 Guardian Drive, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Allison W. Willis

  2. Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Blockley Hall, 723, 423 Guardian Drive, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Allison W. Willis

  3. Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Blockley Hall, 723, 423 Guardian Drive, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Allison W. Willis

  4. Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Blockley Hall, 723, 423 Guardian Drive, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Allison W. Willis

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  1. Allison W. Willis
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Correspondence to Allison W. Willis.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Dementia

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Willis, A.W. Using Administrative Data to Examine Health Disparities and Outcomes in Neurological Diseases of the Elderly. Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep 15, 75 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11910-015-0595-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11910-015-0595-4

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