How many data sources are needed to determine diabetes prevalence by capture-recapture?

Abstract

In a Western population, the only demographic data required for matching patients on lists used for CR methods are first name, family name and date of birth, if unique identifiers such as social security numbers are not available. Two lists alone do not produce reliable data, and at least three lists are needed to allow for modelling for 'dependence' between datasets. The use of more than three lists does not substantially alter the absolute value or confidence of enumeration, and multiple lists (if available) should be condensed into three lists for use in CR calculations.

Estimating crashes involving heavy vehicles in Western Australia, 1999–2000: A capture–recapture method

“…It has been shown that increasing the number of databases does not necessarily produce significant improvements in incidence estimates (Ismail et al, 2000). Nevertheless, four underlying assumptions must be satisfied in order to produce reliable and internally valid results Regal, 1992, 1995;Brenner, 1995).…”

“…Recently, the technique has been adopted in health studies of human populations to generate more accurate rates of disease and disability, including diabetes (Ismail et al, 2000), spinal cord injuries (Chiu et al, 1993), stroke (Taub et al, 1996) and HIV (Bernillon et al, 2000). The method has become increasing popular for estimating hidden populations, such as illicit drug users (Frischer et al, 1993) and the homeless (Fisher et al, 1994).…”

Estimating drowning deaths in Northern Iran using capture–recapture method

“…An estimation of the total number of victims including missing cases was derived using the simplest form of a twosample capture-recapture model developed by someone [17][18][19]. Thus, drowning rates and CI (confidence interval) were calculated using the estimated total number of drowning cases (N) using the following formula:…”

Capture-recapture is a potentially useful method for assessing publication bias

“…For the purpose of this analysis, all the relevant studies ascertained were collapsed into three sources: electronic databases (e.g., MEDLINE, PEDRO), experts (e.g., Cochrane Muscloskeletal Injuries Group), and hand searching (e.g., reference lists, conference proceedings) meeting the inclusion criteria upto and including February 2002. We chose these three sources as it has been noted that a greater number of sources does not substantially alter the absolute value of the estimated number of missed studies [32]. With three data sources there are eight possible combinations of sources in which individual studies may or may not appear.…”