Proceeding report of the Symposium on Hidradenitis Suppurativa Advances (SHSA).

Hidradenitis Suppurativa (HS) is a chronic debilitating skin condition that impairs the productivity and the quality of patients` lives. HS has recently drawn lots of attention among scholars to further expand their knowledge but it still loads with uncertainties and gaps to be explored. This publication addresses these uncertainties, and provides a road-map for researchers, scholars and clinicians from different disciplines for their future studies about HS. This is a proceeding report of the first Symposium on Hidradenitis Suppurativa Advances (SHSA), and it reviews the scientific sessions about the epidemiology, pathophysiology, presentations, and management of HS. This symposium was a great opportunity for experts in the HS field to exchange their knowledge, and improve their mutual understanding of this disease.

Validating the diagnostic code for acne in a tertiary care dermatology centre.

BACKGROUND: Administrative databases provide valuable patient data and are used to conduct population-based studies. However, no studies have been conducted to validate the codes for dermatological conditions. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the validity of ICD 9 code 706 for acne. METHODS: This was a retrospective chart review of patients seen in dermatology clinics at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre between March 1 and May 31, 2013. The billing code for a clinic visit was compared to the diagnosis documented in the medical chart. RESULTS: There were 4,248 participants; 201 with an ICD-9 code of acne. This code had a PPV and sensitivity with 95% confidence intervals (CI) of 84.58% (78.67-89.13%) and 86.29% (80.51-90.62%), respectively. The specificity was 99.20% (98.86-99.45%). CONCLUSIONS: We showed that ICD-9 code 706 can be used to accurately identify patients with acne in a dermatology setting. This information can be applied to future epidemiologic studies.