Welcome to the WSC 2021 Interactive Program

Abstract Body

Linkage of individual patient records in clinical stroke registries with other large datasets offers an opportunity to improve the understanding of stroke care and outcomes. In this session, we will describe the clinical applications of the linkages between the Australian Stroke Clinical Registry (AuSCR) and state-based and national administrative datasets conducted as part of the National Stroke Data Linkage Platform. The AuSCR includes unique information not routinely collected in hospital administrative data such as stroke severity, provision of clinical processes of care for stroke (e.g. stroke unit, use of thrombolysis, discharge medications), and patient-reported outcomes collected between 90-180 days post-admission. This program covers the continuum of stroke care. Data from >80 hospitals in the AuSCR (~120,000 registrants) are now linked to one or more of the following datasets (~23 million records): ambulance records, emergency presentations, inpatient admissions, physician visits, medication dispensing, rehabilitation admissions, aged care, mortality and primary care practitioner consultations. These datasets have been used to generate evidence to understand stroke care and outcomes. Several important and novel questions have been answered using the data. These include: the impact of acute care on readmissions and survival; adherence to secondary prevention medications and frequency of primary care consultations after stroke; the influence of ambulance transport; and outcomes after rehabilitation. With further interrogation of these datasets, we have identified sub-optimal care and assess the effectiveness of primary care models. The program has been visionary and remains highly contemporary in the field of linked data and its use in reforming health policy.