Abstract
Objectives
The objective of this study was to assess the reliability the Social Security Administration
Death Master File (SSADMF) for evaluating mortality in comparative peripheral vascular
device studies.
Methods
We leveraged 2 versions of an administrative claims data set that were identical except
for the source of mortality data. The SSADMF was the primary source of mortality records
in one version. The SSADMF was combined with mortality from Medicare beneficiary records
in the other. Our study was set in the context of a comparative effectiveness analysis
of recent Food and Drug Administration interest involving peripheral paclitaxel-coated
devices. Mortality of patients with Medicare Advantage insurance coverage from 2015
to 2018 who underwent femoropopliteal artery revascularization with a drug-coated
device (DCD) or non-DCD was assessed through 2019. Covariate differences between treatment
groups were adjusted by inverse propensity treatment weighting. The hazard ratio of
DCD to non-DCD mortality was estimated using Cox regression.
Results
The cumulative incidences of mortality differed substantially between versions of
the data. Nevertheless, we could not reject the null hypothesis that the hazard ratios
of the SSADMF (1.05; 95% confidence interval 0.95-1.17) and the Master Beneficiary
Summary File/SSADMF (1.03; 95% confidence interval 0.96-1.11) were the same (P = .63).
Conclusions
The SSADMF is a common source of mortality records in the United States that can be
linked to real-world data sources but is known to underreport mortality rates. We
find that the SSADMF provides a reliable source of all-cause mortality for a comparative
study assessing the safety of peripheral vascular devices.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 06, 2022
Accepted:
May 1,
2022
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc.
