The CKD.QLD data linkage framework: chronic kidney disease and health services utilisation in Queensland, Australia

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is one of the most common chronic diseases in the western world. In Australia, around 1.7 million Australians aged 18 years and over (about one in ten) have indicators of CKD, and 1.8 million hospitalisations were associated with CKD in 2017–18. There is currently very little understanding of the impact of CKD on health service utilisation and costs. Understanding the disease pathways of CKD and its effects on service utilisation and patient outcomes is essential to predicting the course of the disease in the future, its effects on health services utilisation and capacity to better manage the burden of premature deaths or the need for dialysis that results from CKD. We describe the establishment of a data linkage framework to study hospital admissions of CKD patients in the public renal services in the Australian state of Queensland, and its potential to advance understanding of their course and outcomes.Seven years of retrospective data (2011–2018) on hospital-based health services utilisation were provided by Queensland Health for all 7,341 patients who enrolled in the CKD.QLD Registry up to Jan 2019. The data were supplied from three datasets: the Queensland Hospital Admitted Patient Data Collection, the Queensland Registrar General deaths, and the Activity Based Funding Model Output data. In addition, data were supplied from two cohorts of de-identified patients admitted to hospital in the same interval (22,023 patients each), who were not in the CKD.QLD Registry, the first with CKD and the second without CKD as indicated by International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision, Australian Modification.The comprehensive and multifaceted data via the data linkage will enable us to identify opportunities for efficiencies in management of patients with CKD and for interventions that improve their outcomes.