Why NHS hospital co-morbidity research may be wrong: how clinical coding fails to identify the impact of diabetes mellitus on cancer survival
Clinical coding provides inaccurate diabetes diagnosis date and detection resulting in meaningful differences in analytic outcomes. This supports the use of more detailed comorbidity data definitions. Results casts doubt over research reliant on hospital clinical coding alone and the generalisability of some comorbidity and frailty scoring systems.
Authors
- C McInerney
- Kieran Zucker (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4385-3153)
- Paul D. Baxter (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2699-3103)
- Adam Glaser (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1814-5120)
- Geoffrey Hall
Institutions
- University of Leeds (GB)
- Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (GB)
- University of Sheffield (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- British Journal of Cancer
- Published
- 2025-08-09
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41416-025-03136-9
- Primary Topic
- Chronic Disease Management Strategies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Macmillan Cancer Support
- National Institute for Health and Care Research