Faeh D: Routine data sources challenge international diabetes Federation extrapolations of national diabetes prevalence in Switzerland. Diabetes Care 2011, 34(11):2387–2389.32. Rizza A, Kaplan V, Senn O, Rosemann T, Bhend H, Tandjung R, FIRE study group:

OBJECTIVEdInformation on diabetes prevalence in the general population is scarce and often based on extrapolations.We evaluatedwhether prevalence could be estimated from routine data sources. RESEARCHDESIGNANDMETHODSdThe sources were 1) hospital discharges (2008, n = 828,171), 2) death registry (2007/2008, n = 118,659), and 3) Swiss Health Survey (SHS; 2007, n = 18,665). Persons without diabetes as underlying cause of death (death registry) or principal diagnosis (hospital discharges) were regarded as surrogate for a general population random sample. RESULTSdIn those aged 20–84 years, 4.5 % of men and 3 % of women were expected to have diabetes. By source, estimations were 4.4 and 2.8 % (hospital discharges), 3.8 and 3.1 % (death registry), and 4.9 and 3.7 % (SHS) for men and women, respectively. Among sources, age–sex patterns were similar. CONCLUSIONSdIn countries with adequate data quality, combination of routine data may provide valid and reliable estimations of diabetes prevalence. Our figures suggest that Inter-national Diabetes Federation extrapolations substantially overestimate diabetes prevalence i