Administrative data on diagnosis and mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist prescription identified patients with primary aldosteronism in Taiwan

Abstract Objectives To develop algorithms of locating patients with primary aldosteronism (PA) using insurance reimbursement data and to validate the algorithms using medical charts. Study Design and Setting We extracted National Health Insurance (NHI) reimbursement data and medical charts in seven enrolled hospitals and analyzed diagnosis-related information for 1999–2010. The NHI codes PA as 255.1x, using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification. Confirmation of PA was based on suppression tests. Results We reviewed medical charts for 1,094 cases with at least one PA diagnosis. PA was confirmed for 563 cases. Compared with patients with essential hypertension, PA patients had higher systolic blood pressure, higher aldosterone, lower renin activity, and lower potassium level (all P -values