Validity of algorithms for identifying mild traumatic brain injury in the French national emergency department database OSCOUR: a retrospective multicentre validation study protocol

IntroductionThe French emergency department (ED) surveillance network OSCOUR transmits data on ED visits to Sante publique France (the national public health agency). As these data are collected daily and are almost exhaustive at a national level, it would seem relevant to use them for national epidemiological surveillance of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). This article presents the protocol of a planned study to validate algorithms for identifying mTBI in the OSCOUR database. Algorithms to be tested will be based on International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10 codes.Methods and analysisWe will perform a multicentre validation study of algorithms for identifying mTBI in OSCOUR. Different combinations of ICD-10 codes will be used to identify cases of mTBI in the OSCOUR database. A random sample of mTBI cases and non-cases will be selected from four EDs. Medical charts will serve as the reference standard to validate the algorithms. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of the different algorithms, as well as their 95% CIs, will be calculated and compared.Ethics and disseminationThe ethics committee of the French National Data Protection Authority (CNIL) approved this study (n degrees 921152, 1 August 2021). Results will be submitted to national and international peer-reviewed journals and presented at conferences dedicated to trauma and to methodologies for the construction and validation of algorithms.

Automated summary

This article presents a research protocol for validating algorithms for identifying mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) in the OSCOUR database based on International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10 codes. The study will perform a multicentre validation using different combinations of ICD-10 codes to identify mTBI cases, and medical charts will serve as the reference standard for algorithm validation. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) of the algorithms will be calculated and compared.