Table 1 Overview of population-level databases identified as relevant for end-of-life care research
Database administrators | Database name | Population | Information provided in database |
|---|---|---|---|
Inter Mutualistic Agency (IMA) | Population Database | Every Belgian citizen who is a member of one of the seven (compulsory) Belgian sickness funds, information in Population Database is updated twice each year from 2002 onwards | Socio-demographic characteristics (age, sex, date of death, place of residence, family composition, use of supportive measures) |
| Â | Pharmanet Database | Medication supply characteristics (substance, quantity, prescriber, expenses, refunds, delivery date) | |
| Â | Medical Claims Database | Health and medical care use characteristics (quantity of use, reimbursement, supplier, supplier institution, length of treatment) | |
Belgian Cancer Registry | Cancer registry | Every new cancer diagnosis of Belgian residents, registered by oncological care programs and laboratories for anatomic pathology | Diagnostic characteristics (date of diagnosis, type of cancer, TNM gradation) |
Statistics Belgium | Death certificate database | Every Belgian decedent with a registered death certificate | Direct and indirect causes of death (in ICD-10 codes), socio-demographics about the deceased, place of death |
| Â | Demographic dataset | Every Belgian citizen | Nationality group, household composition |
| Â | Socio-economic survey (SES) 2001 and Census 2011 | Every Belgian citizen, information gathered from multiple external administrative databases using social security number (Census 2011) | Highest attained education level, occupation, housing comfort |
| Â | IPCAL dataset | Every Belgian citizen | Net income by category |
Identified but not used in our research | |||
Belgian Ministry of Health | Minimal Hospital Dataset | Every hospital admission in non-psychiatric general hospitals | Medical, nursery and personnel data for in-hospital care |