An efficient record linkage scheme using graphical analysis for identifier error detection

Table 7 Effect of collision resolution

	Before collision resolution	After collision resolution	% drop		Before collision resolution
Number of clusters	3557951	3618233		Number of clusters	3557951
Clusters with multiple:				Clusters with multiple:
NHS numbers	6202	2122	~66%	NHS numbers	6202
hospital numbers	97071	94238	~3%	hospital numbers	97071
birthdates	58293	35523	~39%	birthdates	58293
deathdates	830	107	~87%	deathdates	830
genders	81118	61337	~24%	genders	81118
forenames	59426	16873	~71%	forenames	59426
surnames	189657	151593	~25%	surnames	189657

After initial linkage, a process of collision resolution is applied (see methods). This causes a decrease in the number of clusters containing multiple identifiers, as detailed above.

ISSN: 1472-6947