Which are the correct identifiers for patients in the PPMI cohort?

danieltds
Sun, 23 Jul 2023 22:12:52 +0000
Analyzing and Reusing Data

This question might be basic, but I think it is nonetheless important. The PPMI dataset (official website) contains different columns portraying information on a patient’s diagnoses. The main identifiers are present in the table called “Participant_Status,” such as “COHORT or COHORT_DEFINITION”

However, this table also includes the variables “CONCOHORT” and “CONCOHORT_DEFINITION,” which represent, according to the dataset’s code list, “Cohort per Consensus Committee” and “Decoded Value for CONCOHORT.” I have read that there are regular consensus meetings to discuss certain aspects of patients and determine their diagnosis. I believe these two latter variables are the most accurate and up-to-date to use when selecting patients according to their cohort, but I wanted some confirmation.

Here I will show images of the number of patients in each category as of the data downloaded in July 12.

COHORT_DEFINITION

CONCOHORT_DEFINITION

Additionally, the dataset also contains the variable called “'PRIMDIAG” (Most likely primary diagnosis) in the ‘Primary_Clinical_Diagnosis’ table. I couldn’t find more information regarding how this variable is determined, but I believe it represents a clinical diagnosis made during each follow-up visit by the physician examining the patient. This column has the following possible responses:

Does this column has some validity to define patients or for research purposes?

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