[Extending traceability of malignant testicular tumours using hospital discharge records: an experience in Veneto Region (Northern Italy)].

OBJECTIVES: validation of codes of hospital discharge records (SDO) for identification of new cases of malignant testicular tumour in the Veneto Region (Northern Italy). DESIGN: record linkage between the regional archive of SDO and the archive of the Veneto Tumour Registry (VTR). SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: extraction of cases from SDO source with ICD-9-CM 186 code for diagnosis and 62.3-62.4 codes for surgical procedure, and from VTR database using ICD-O-3 C62 code for site and 9060-9062, 9064-9066, 9070, 9071, 9080-9083, 9085, 9100, 9101 codes for morphology, with 5th digit behaviour code equal to "/3". Comparison of the two sources in a classification table using VTR data as gold standard. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: positive predictive value and sensitivity of SDO, with 95% confidence interval (95%CI) based on binomial distribution. RESULTS: from 2006 to 2008, in areas covered by the registry, SDO and VTR identified, respectively, 221 and 216 cases of testicular cancer. SDO procedure showed a sensitivity of 92% (95%CI 87%- 95%) and a positive predictive value of 90% (95%CI 85%-93%). CONCLUSIONS: the SDO procedure can be considered an acceptable proxy for testis cancer incidence, thus allowing a wider spatiotemporal observation of the epidemiological trends.