Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

[Hazim_Timimi]

Is there a standard approach commonly in use to handle ages when the exact date of birth of a patient is unknown? I can think of two ways -- either using a surrogate (approximate) date of birth that tallies with a person's reported age, or have an extra data element for age at time of diagnosis to be used only if date of birth is unknown. Obviously, if date of birth is known then age is calculated automatically.

I would like to know what people have been using and have seen to be working in practice (and not necessarily just in DHIS2).

Thanks!

Hazim
…..
Hazim Timimi
Data Manager, Tuberculosis Monitoring and Evaluation, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland
Tel : +41 22 791 3468

[Edward_Robinson]

What we've done in the past with other systems is have a field for estimated age at time of registration - only completed if the DOB is not known. DOB is then auto-populated based on the entered age, and an additional YES/NO field is updated to note that the DOB is estimated and not exact.
Ed

···

-----Original Message-----
From: Dhis2-users [mailto:dhis2-users-bounces+erobinson=projectbalance.com@lists.launchpad.net] On Behalf Of TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir
Sent: Tuesday, 10 October 2017 5:01 PM
To: dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net
Subject: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

Is there a standard approach commonly in use to handle ages when the exact date of birth of a patient is unknown? I can think of two ways -- either using a surrogate (approximate) date of birth that tallies with a person's reported age, or have an extra data element for age at time of diagnosis to be used only if date of birth is unknown. Obviously, if date of birth is known then age is calculated automatically.

I would like to know what people have been using and have seen to be working in practice (and not necessarily just in DHIS2).

Thanks!

Hazim
…..
Hazim Timimi
Data Manager, Tuberculosis Monitoring and Evaluation, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland Tel : +41 22 791 3468

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[Hazim_Timimi]

Hi Ed,

Thanks very much, that makes sense. I also came across this yesterday which seems similar to what you have done in the past (see under "Collection and usage attributes"): http://meteor.aihw.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/287007

Cheers,
Hazim

···

-----Original Message-----
From: Edward Robinson [mailto:erobinson@projectbalance.com]
Sent: 11 October 2017 13:40
To: TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir; dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net
Subject: RE: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

What we've done in the past with other systems is have a field for estimated age at time of registration - only completed if the DOB is not known. DOB is then auto-populated based on the entered age, and an additional YES/NO field is updated to note that the DOB is estimated and not exact.
Ed

-----Original Message-----
From: Dhis2-users [mailto:dhis2-users-bounces+erobinson=projectbalance.com@lists.launchpad.net] On Behalf Of TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir
Sent: Tuesday, 10 October 2017 5:01 PM
To: dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net
Subject: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

Is there a standard approach commonly in use to handle ages when the exact date of birth of a patient is unknown? I can think of two ways -- either using a surrogate (approximate) date of birth that tallies with a person's reported age, or have an extra data element for age at time of diagnosis to be used only if date of birth is unknown. Obviously, if date of birth is known then age is calculated automatically.

I would like to know what people have been using and have seen to be working in practice (and not necessarily just in DHIS2).

Thanks!

Hazim
…..
Hazim Timimi
Data Manager, Tuberculosis Monitoring and Evaluation, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland Tel : +41 22 791 3468

_______________________________________________
Mailing list: DHIS 2 Users in Launchpad
Post to : dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net
Unsubscribe : DHIS 2 Users in Launchpad
More help : ListHelp - Launchpad Help

[Abyot_Gizaw]

Hi,

We don’t capture the additional data if DOB is approximated or not…

Otherwise, we have a value type called AGE, then during data entry a special input field is rendered, see below

···

On Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 2:21 PM, TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir timimih@who.int wrote:

Hi Ed,

Thanks very much, that makes sense. I also came across this yesterday which seems similar to what you have done in the past (see under “Collection and usage attributes”): http://meteor.aihw.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/287007

Cheers,

Hazim

-----Original Message-----

From: Edward Robinson [mailto:erobinson@projectbalance.com]

Sent: 11 October 2017 13:40

To: TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir; dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net

Subject: RE: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

What we’ve done in the past with other systems is have a field for estimated age at time of registration - only completed if the DOB is not known. DOB is then auto-populated based on the entered age, and an additional YES/NO field is updated to note that the DOB is estimated and not exact.

Ed

-----Original Message-----

From: Dhis2-users [mailto:dhis2-users-bounces+erobinson=projectbalance.com@lists.launchpad.net] On Behalf Of TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir

Sent: Tuesday, 10 October 2017 5:01 PM

To: dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net

Subject: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

Is there a standard approach commonly in use to handle ages when the exact date of birth of a patient is unknown? I can think of two ways – either using a surrogate (approximate) date of birth that tallies with a person’s reported age, or have an extra data element for age at time of diagnosis to be used only if date of birth is unknown. Obviously, if date of birth is known then age is calculated automatically.

I would like to know what people have been using and have seen to be working in practice (and not necessarily just in DHIS2).

Thanks!

Hazim

……

Hazim Timimi

Data Manager, Tuberculosis Monitoring and Evaluation, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland Tel : +41 22 791 3468

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Users are free to fill any or combination of these and behind the scene the system calculates/updates each field and in the end DOB is saved.

–

Abyot A. Gizaw.

Senior Engineer, DHIS2

University of Oslo

http://www.dhis2.org

[Hazim_Timimi]

Hi Abyot,

Interesting, thanks. I wasn’t aware of the value type called AGE within DHIS2. I tried to find some documentation for this at https://www.dhis2.org/documentation but couldn’t see anything. I only found references to it on Github and also on the 2.26 release notes (https://www.dhis2.org/226). It doesn’t explain what to do if you only know approximate age in years, not whether the reference date is the data entry date or the report/event/diagnosis date (if data entry is post hoc). I see this is already reported as a request in JIRA (https://jira.dhis2.org/browse/DHIS2-2345).

Cheers,

Hazim

···

From: Abyot Asalefew Gizaw [mailto:abyot@dhis2.org]
Sent: 11 October 2017 15:02
To: TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir
Cc: Edward Robinson; dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net
Subject: Re: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

Hi,

We don’t capture the additional data if DOB is approximated or not…

Otherwise, we have a value type called AGE, then during data entry a special input field is rendered, see below

Users are free to fill any or combination of these and behind the scene the system calculates/updates each field and in the end DOB is saved.

–

Abyot A. Gizaw.

Senior Engineer, DHIS2

University of Oslo

http://www.dhis2.org

On Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 2:21 PM, TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir timimih@who.int wrote:

Hi Ed,

Thanks very much, that makes sense. I also came across this yesterday which seems similar to what you have done in the past (see under “Collection and usage attributes”): http://meteor.aihw.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/287007

Cheers,
Hazim

-----Original Message-----
From: Edward Robinson [mailto:erobinson@projectbalance.com]
Sent: 11 October 2017 13:40
To: TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir; dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net
Subject: RE: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

What we’ve done in the past with other systems is have a field for estimated age at time of registration - only completed if the DOB is not known. DOB is then auto-populated based on the entered age, and an additional YES/NO field is updated to note that the DOB is estimated and not exact.
Ed

-----Original Message-----
From: Dhis2-users [mailto:dhis2-users-bounces+erobinson=projectbalance.com@lists.launchpad.net] On Behalf Of TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir
Sent: Tuesday, 10 October 2017 5:01 PM
To: dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net
Subject: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

Is there a standard approach commonly in use to handle ages when the exact date of birth of a patient is unknown? I can think of two ways – either using a surrogate (approximate) date of birth that tallies with a person’s reported age, or have an extra data element for age at time of diagnosis to be used only if date of birth is unknown. Obviously, if date of birth is known then age is calculated automatically.

I would like to know what people have been using and have seen to be working in practice (and not necessarily just in DHIS2).

Thanks!

Hazim
……
Hazim Timimi
Data Manager, Tuberculosis Monitoring and Evaluation, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland Tel : +41 22 791 3468

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[Abyot_Gizaw]

Hi,

We will try to update the documentation

As to the issue you refereed, it is a new one and most of us here haven’t looked into it before… Nonetheless, looking into the requirement mentioned there - I think introducing the concept of age there will probably over complicate things. What is required seems to capture a static figure - and defining a simple data element of type number will handle that.

···

On Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 4:23 PM, TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir timimih@who.int wrote:

Hi Abyot,

Interesting, thanks. I wasn’t aware of the value type called AGE within DHIS2. I tried to find some documentation for this at https://www.dhis2.org/documentation but couldn’t see anything. I only found references to it on Github and also on the 2.26 release notes (https://www.dhis2.org/226). It doesn’t explain what to do if you only know approximate age in years, not whether the reference date is the data entry date or the report/event/diagnosis date (if data entry is post hoc). I see this is already reported as a request in JIRA (https://jira.dhis2.org/browse/DHIS2-2345).

Cheers,

Hazim

From: Abyot Asalefew Gizaw [mailto:abyot@dhis2.org]
Sent: 11 October 2017 15:02
To: TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir
Cc: Edward Robinson; dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net
Subject: Re: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

Hi,

We don’t capture the additional data if DOB is approximated or not…

Otherwise, we have a value type called AGE, then during data entry a special input field is rendered, see below

Users are free to fill any or combination of these and behind the scene the system calculates/updates each field and in the end DOB is saved.

–

Abyot A. Gizaw.

Senior Engineer, DHIS2

University of Oslo

http://www.dhis2.org

On Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 2:21 PM, TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir timimih@who.int wrote:

Hi Ed,

Thanks very much, that makes sense. I also came across this yesterday which seems similar to what you have done in the past (see under “Collection and usage attributes”): http://meteor.aihw.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/287007

Cheers,
Hazim

-----Original Message-----
From: Edward Robinson [mailto:erobinson@projectbalance.com]
Sent: 11 October 2017 13:40
To: TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir; dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net
Subject: RE: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

What we’ve done in the past with other systems is have a field for estimated age at time of registration - only completed if the DOB is not known. DOB is then auto-populated based on the entered age, and an additional YES/NO field is updated to note that the DOB is estimated and not exact.
Ed

-----Original Message-----
From: Dhis2-users [mailto:dhis2-users-bounces+erobinson=projectbalance.com@lists.launchpad.net] On Behalf Of TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir
Sent: Tuesday, 10 October 2017 5:01 PM
To: dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net
Subject: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

Is there a standard approach commonly in use to handle ages when the exact date of birth of a patient is unknown? I can think of two ways – either using a surrogate (approximate) date of birth that tallies with a person’s reported age, or have an extra data element for age at time of diagnosis to be used only if date of birth is unknown. Obviously, if date of birth is known then age is calculated automatically.

I would like to know what people have been using and have seen to be working in practice (and not necessarily just in DHIS2).

Thanks!

Hazim
……
Hazim Timimi
Data Manager, Tuberculosis Monitoring and Evaluation, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland Tel : +41 22 791 3468

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–

Abyot A. Gizaw.

Senior Engineer, DHIS2

University of Oslo

http://www.dhis2.org

[GROUT_Lise]

Dear all,

I tested the Age-type date element which is good to capture the approximate age of the patient. But this is a dynamic variable, in the sense that every day, the patient will be older of one day. Obviously, this is a very good attribute for the registration for example in tracker, in order to be able to look for a patient with the age variable, even if s/he shows up months or years later.

But it is also important for us to capture the age at the moment of clinical examination/admission/presentation (whatever the name you give it) and that this variable is static (it won’t change over time). And for this, the age-type DE is therefore not helpful.

We currently have “Date of birth” which is date-type and “Age in years” which is number-type DE, and we would actually like to have a PI “Age at clinical examination” which is calculated with “DOB” if available or “Age in years” if not available (not configured properly yet). Probably, ideally, the PI “Age at clinical examination” should be calculated either on the “DOB” DE or in the approximative DOB provided through the Age-type DE, but I don’t know if this is possible. (Don’t know if I make sense).

Best

Lise.

···

From: Dhis2-users [mailto:dhis2-users-bounces+groutl=who.int@lists.launchpad.net] On Behalf Of Abyot Asalefew Gizaw
Sent: 11 October 2017 16:46
To: TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir
Cc: dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net
Subject: Re: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

Hi,

We will try to update the documentation

As to the issue you refereed, it is a new one and most of us here haven’t looked into it before… Nonetheless, looking into the requirement mentioned there - I think introducing the concept of age there will probably over complicate things. What is required seems to capture a static figure - and defining a simple data element of type number will handle that.

–

Abyot A. Gizaw.

Senior Engineer, DHIS2

University of Oslo

http://www.dhis2.org

On Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 4:23 PM, TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir timimih@who.int wrote:

Hi Abyot,

Interesting, thanks. I wasn’t aware of the value type called AGE within DHIS2. I tried to find some documentation for this at https://www.dhis2.org/documentation but couldn’t see anything. I only found references to it on Github and also on the 2.26 release notes (https://www.dhis2.org/226). It doesn’t explain what to do if you only know approximate age in years, not whether the reference date is the data entry date or the report/event/diagnosis date (if data entry is post hoc). I see this is already reported as a request in JIRA (https://jira.dhis2.org/browse/DHIS2-2345).

Cheers,

Hazim

From: Abyot Asalefew Gizaw [mailto:abyot@dhis2.org]
Sent: 11 October 2017 15:02
To: TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir
Cc: Edward Robinson; dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net
Subject: Re: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

Hi,

We don’t capture the additional data if DOB is approximated or not…

Otherwise, we have a value type called AGE, then during data entry a special input field is rendered, see below

Users are free to fill any or combination of these and behind the scene the system calculates/updates each field and in the end DOB is saved.

–

Abyot A. Gizaw.

Senior Engineer, DHIS2

University of Oslo

http://www.dhis2.org

On Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 2:21 PM, TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir timimih@who.int wrote:

Hi Ed,

Thanks very much, that makes sense. I also came across this yesterday which seems similar to what you have done in the past (see under “Collection and usage attributes”): http://meteor.aihw.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/287007

Cheers,
Hazim

-----Original Message-----
From: Edward Robinson [mailto:erobinson@projectbalance.com]
Sent: 11 October 2017 13:40
To: TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir; dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net
Subject: RE: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

What we’ve done in the past with other systems is have a field for estimated age at time of registration - only completed if the DOB is not known. DOB is then auto-populated based on the entered age, and an additional YES/NO field is updated to note that the DOB is estimated and not exact.
Ed

-----Original Message-----
From: Dhis2-users [mailto:dhis2-users-bounces+erobinson=projectbalance.com@lists.launchpad.net] On Behalf Of TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir
Sent: Tuesday, 10 October 2017 5:01 PM
To: dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net
Subject: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

Is there a standard approach commonly in use to handle ages when the exact date of birth of a patient is unknown? I can think of two ways – either using a surrogate (approximate) date of birth that tallies with a person’s reported age, or have an extra data element for age at time of diagnosis to be used only if date of birth is unknown. Obviously, if date of birth is known then age is calculated automatically.

I would like to know what people have been using and have seen to be working in practice (and not necessarily just in DHIS2).

Thanks!

Hazim
……
Hazim Timimi
Data Manager, Tuberculosis Monitoring and Evaluation, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland Tel : +41 22 791 3468

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[Hazim_Timimi]

Thanks very much Lise, you described my concerns very well (although I had to stop to work out what DE and PI meant!).

Cheers,

Hazim

···

From: GROUT, Lise
Sent: 11 October 2017 17:09
To: Abyot Asalefew Gizaw; TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir
Cc: dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net
Subject: RE: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

Dear all,

I tested the Age-type date element which is good to capture the approximate age of the patient. But this is a dynamic variable, in the sense that every day, the patient will be older of one day. Obviously, this is a very good attribute for the registration for example in tracker, in order to be able to look for a patient with the age variable, even if s/he shows up months or years later.

But it is also important for us to capture the age at the moment of clinical examination/admission/presentation (whatever the name you give it) and that this variable is static (it won’t change over time). And for this, the age-type DE is therefore not helpful.

We currently have “Date of birth” which is date-type and “Age in years” which is number-type DE, and we would actually like to have a PI “Age at clinical examination” which is calculated with “DOB” if available or “Age in years” if not available (not configured properly yet). Probably, ideally, the PI “Age at clinical examination” should be calculated either on the “DOB” DE or in the approximative DOB provided through the Age-type DE, but I don’t know if this is possible. (Don’t know if I make sense).

Best

Lise.

From: Dhis2-users [mailto:dhis2-users-bounces+groutl=who.int@lists.launchpad.net] On Behalf Of Abyot Asalefew Gizaw
Sent: 11 October 2017 16:46
To: TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir
Cc: dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net
Subject: Re: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

Hi,

We will try to update the documentation

As to the issue you refereed, it is a new one and most of us here haven’t looked into it before… Nonetheless, looking into the requirement mentioned there - I think introducing the concept of age there will probably over complicate things. What is required seems to capture a static figure - and defining a simple data element of type number will handle that.

–

Abyot A. Gizaw.

Senior Engineer, DHIS2

University of Oslo

http://www.dhis2.org

On Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 4:23 PM, TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir timimih@who.int wrote:

Hi Abyot,

Interesting, thanks. I wasn’t aware of the value type called AGE within DHIS2. I tried to find some documentation for this at https://www.dhis2.org/documentation but couldn’t see anything. I only found references to it on Github and also on the 2.26 release notes (https://www.dhis2.org/226). It doesn’t explain what to do if you only know approximate age in years, not whether the reference date is the data entry date or the report/event/diagnosis date (if data entry is post hoc). I see this is already reported as a request in JIRA (https://jira.dhis2.org/browse/DHIS2-2345).

Cheers,

Hazim

From: Abyot Asalefew Gizaw [mailto:abyot@dhis2.org]
Sent: 11 October 2017 15:02
To: TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir
Cc: Edward Robinson; dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net
Subject: Re: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

Hi,

We don’t capture the additional data if DOB is approximated or not…

Otherwise, we have a value type called AGE, then during data entry a special input field is rendered, see below

Users are free to fill any or combination of these and behind the scene the system calculates/updates each field and in the end DOB is saved.

–

Abyot A. Gizaw.

Senior Engineer, DHIS2

University of Oslo

http://www.dhis2.org

On Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 2:21 PM, TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir timimih@who.int wrote:

Hi Ed,

Thanks very much, that makes sense. I also came across this yesterday which seems similar to what you have done in the past (see under “Collection and usage attributes”): http://meteor.aihw.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/287007

Cheers,
Hazim

-----Original Message-----
From: Edward Robinson [mailto:erobinson@projectbalance.com]
Sent: 11 October 2017 13:40
To: TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir; dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net
Subject: RE: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

What we’ve done in the past with other systems is have a field for estimated age at time of registration - only completed if the DOB is not known. DOB is then auto-populated based on the entered age, and an additional YES/NO field is updated to note that the DOB is estimated and not exact.
Ed

-----Original Message-----
From: Dhis2-users [mailto:dhis2-users-bounces+erobinson=projectbalance.com@lists.launchpad.net] On Behalf Of TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir
Sent: Tuesday, 10 October 2017 5:01 PM
To: dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net
Subject: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

Is there a standard approach commonly in use to handle ages when the exact date of birth of a patient is unknown? I can think of two ways – either using a surrogate (approximate) date of birth that tallies with a person’s reported age, or have an extra data element for age at time of diagnosis to be used only if date of birth is unknown. Obviously, if date of birth is known then age is calculated automatically.

I would like to know what people have been using and have seen to be working in practice (and not necessarily just in DHIS2).

Thanks!

Hazim
……
Hazim Timimi
Data Manager, Tuberculosis Monitoring and Evaluation, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland Tel : +41 22 791 3468

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[Abyot_Gizaw]

Hi,

To avoid confusion, probably better we rename AGE value type to DOB - this, I believe, should always be calculated against today.

And for your usecases, what you need is not really DOB or AGE as we know is conventionally … rather just a number that you can store with “age” value.

···

On Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 5:14 PM, TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir timimih@who.int wrote:

Thanks very much Lise, you described my concerns very well (although I had to stop to work out what DE and PI meant!).

Cheers,

Hazim

From: GROUT, Lise
Sent: 11 October 2017 17:09
To: Abyot Asalefew Gizaw; TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir
Cc: dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net

Subject: RE: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

Dear all,

I tested the Age-type date element which is good to capture the approximate age of the patient. But this is a dynamic variable, in the sense that every day, the patient will be older of one day. Obviously, this is a very good attribute for the registration for example in tracker, in order to be able to look for a patient with the age variable, even if s/he shows up months or years later.

But it is also important for us to capture the age at the moment of clinical examination/admission/presentation (whatever the name you give it) and that this variable is static (it won’t change over time). And for this, the age-type DE is therefore not helpful.

We currently have “Date of birth” which is date-type and “Age in years” which is number-type DE, and we would actually like to have a PI “Age at clinical examination” which is calculated with “DOB” if available or “Age in years” if not available (not configured properly yet). Probably, ideally, the PI “Age at clinical examination” should be calculated either on the “DOB” DE or in the approximative DOB provided through the Age-type DE, but I don’t know if this is possible. (Don’t know if I make sense).

Best

Lise.

From: Dhis2-users [mailto:dhis2-users-bounces+groutl=who.int@lists.launchpad.net] On Behalf Of Abyot Asalefew Gizaw
Sent: 11 October 2017 16:46
To: TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir
Cc: dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net
Subject: Re: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

Hi,

We will try to update the documentation

As to the issue you refereed, it is a new one and most of us here haven’t looked into it before… Nonetheless, looking into the requirement mentioned there - I think introducing the concept of age there will probably over complicate things. What is required seems to capture a static figure - and defining a simple data element of type number will handle that.

–

Abyot A. Gizaw.

Senior Engineer, DHIS2

University of Oslo

http://www.dhis2.org

On Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 4:23 PM, TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir timimih@who.int wrote:

Hi Abyot,

Interesting, thanks. I wasn’t aware of the value type called AGE within DHIS2. I tried to find some documentation for this at https://www.dhis2.org/documentation but couldn’t see anything. I only found references to it on Github and also on the 2.26 release notes (https://www.dhis2.org/226). It doesn’t explain what to do if you only know approximate age in years, not whether the reference date is the data entry date or the report/event/diagnosis date (if data entry is post hoc). I see this is already reported as a request in JIRA (https://jira.dhis2.org/browse/DHIS2-2345).

Cheers,

Hazim

From: Abyot Asalefew Gizaw [mailto:abyot@dhis2.org]
Sent: 11 October 2017 15:02
To: TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir
Cc: Edward Robinson; dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net
Subject: Re: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

Hi,

We don’t capture the additional data if DOB is approximated or not…

Otherwise, we have a value type called AGE, then during data entry a special input field is rendered, see below

Users are free to fill any or combination of these and behind the scene the system calculates/updates each field and in the end DOB is saved.

–

Abyot A. Gizaw.

Senior Engineer, DHIS2

University of Oslo

http://www.dhis2.org

On Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 2:21 PM, TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir timimih@who.int wrote:

Hi Ed,

Thanks very much, that makes sense. I also came across this yesterday which seems similar to what you have done in the past (see under “Collection and usage attributes”): http://meteor.aihw.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/287007

Cheers,
Hazim

-----Original Message-----
From: Edward Robinson [mailto:erobinson@projectbalance.com]
Sent: 11 October 2017 13:40
To: TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir; dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net
Subject: RE: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

What we’ve done in the past with other systems is have a field for estimated age at time of registration - only completed if the DOB is not known. DOB is then auto-populated based on the entered age, and an additional YES/NO field is updated to note that the DOB is estimated and not exact.
Ed

-----Original Message-----
From: Dhis2-users [mailto:dhis2-users-bounces+erobinson=projectbalance.com@lists.launchpad.net] On Behalf Of TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir
Sent: Tuesday, 10 October 2017 5:01 PM
To: dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net
Subject: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

Is there a standard approach commonly in use to handle ages when the exact date of birth of a patient is unknown? I can think of two ways – either using a surrogate (approximate) date of birth that tallies with a person’s reported age, or have an extra data element for age at time of diagnosis to be used only if date of birth is unknown. Obviously, if date of birth is known then age is calculated automatically.

I would like to know what people have been using and have seen to be working in practice (and not necessarily just in DHIS2).

Thanks!

Hazim
……
Hazim Timimi
Data Manager, Tuberculosis Monitoring and Evaluation, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland Tel : +41 22 791 3468

---

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–

Abyot A. Gizaw.

Senior Engineer, DHIS2

University of Oslo

http://www.dhis2.org

[Markus (Markus Bekken)]

Hey,

I know some have used a program rule to calculate the age based on the years between the birth date and either the registration date or the event date. When date of birth is filled out, the “age at visit” or “age at registration” is filled automatically by the rule. When date of birth is not filled out, the data entry person would enter an estimate number into the “age at visit” or “age at registration” field.

Here is an example for how such a program rule could look:

···

On Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 5:14 PM, TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir timimih@who.int wrote:

Thanks very much Lise, you described my concerns very well (although I had to stop to work out what DE and PI meant!).

Cheers,

Hazim

From: GROUT, Lise
Sent: 11 October 2017 17:09
To: Abyot Asalefew Gizaw; TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir
Cc: dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net

Subject: RE: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

Dear all,

I tested the Age-type date element which is good to capture the approximate age of the patient. But this is a dynamic variable, in the sense that every day, the patient will be older of one day. Obviously, this is a very good attribute for the registration for example in tracker, in order to be able to look for a patient with the age variable, even if s/he shows up months or years later.

But it is also important for us to capture the age at the moment of clinical examination/admission/presentation (whatever the name you give it) and that this variable is static (it won’t change over time). And for this, the age-type DE is therefore not helpful.

We currently have “Date of birth” which is date-type and “Age in years” which is number-type DE, and we would actually like to have a PI “Age at clinical examination” which is calculated with “DOB” if available or “Age in years” if not available (not configured properly yet). Probably, ideally, the PI “Age at clinical examination” should be calculated either on the “DOB” DE or in the approximative DOB provided through the Age-type DE, but I don’t know if this is possible. (Don’t know if I make sense).

Best

Lise.

From: Dhis2-users [mailto:dhis2-users-bounces+groutl=who.int@lists.launchpad.net] On Behalf Of Abyot Asalefew Gizaw
Sent: 11 October 2017 16:46
To: TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir
Cc: dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net
Subject: Re: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

Hi,

We will try to update the documentation

As to the issue you refereed, it is a new one and most of us here haven’t looked into it before… Nonetheless, looking into the requirement mentioned there - I think introducing the concept of age there will probably over complicate things. What is required seems to capture a static figure - and defining a simple data element of type number will handle that.

–

Abyot A. Gizaw.

Senior Engineer, DHIS2

University of Oslo

http://www.dhis2.org

On Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 4:23 PM, TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir timimih@who.int wrote:

Hi Abyot,

Interesting, thanks. I wasn’t aware of the value type called AGE within DHIS2. I tried to find some documentation for this at https://www.dhis2.org/documentation but couldn’t see anything. I only found references to it on Github and also on the 2.26 release notes (https://www.dhis2.org/226). It doesn’t explain what to do if you only know approximate age in years, not whether the reference date is the data entry date or the report/event/diagnosis date (if data entry is post hoc). I see this is already reported as a request in JIRA (https://jira.dhis2.org/browse/DHIS2-2345).

Cheers,

Hazim

From: Abyot Asalefew Gizaw [mailto:abyot@dhis2.org]
Sent: 11 October 2017 15:02
To: TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir
Cc: Edward Robinson; dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net
Subject: Re: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

Hi,

We don’t capture the additional data if DOB is approximated or not…

Otherwise, we have a value type called AGE, then during data entry a special input field is rendered, see below

<image001.jpg>

Users are free to fill any or combination of these and behind the scene the system calculates/updates each field and in the end DOB is saved.

–

Abyot A. Gizaw.

Senior Engineer, DHIS2

University of Oslo

http://www.dhis2.org

On Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 2:21 PM, TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir timimih@who.int wrote:

Hi Ed,

Thanks very much, that makes sense. I also came across this yesterday which seems similar to what you have done in the past (see under “Collection and usage attributes”): http://meteor.aihw.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/287007

Cheers,
Hazim

-----Original Message-----
From: Edward Robinson [mailto:erobinson@projectbalance.com]
Sent: 11 October 2017 13:40
To: TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir; dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net
Subject: RE: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

What we’ve done in the past with other systems is have a field for estimated age at time of registration - only completed if the DOB is not known. DOB is then auto-populated based on the entered age, and an additional YES/NO field is updated to note that the DOB is estimated and not exact.
Ed

-----Original Message-----
From: Dhis2-users [mailto:dhis2-users-bounces+erobinson=projectbalance.com@lists.launchpad.net] On Behalf Of TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir
Sent: Tuesday, 10 October 2017 5:01 PM
To: dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net
Subject: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

Is there a standard approach commonly in use to handle ages when the exact date of birth of a patient is unknown? I can think of two ways – either using a surrogate (approximate) date of birth that tallies with a person’s reported age, or have an extra data element for age at time of diagnosis to be used only if date of birth is unknown. Obviously, if date of birth is known then age is calculated automatically.

I would like to know what people have been using and have seen to be working in practice (and not necessarily just in DHIS2).

Thanks!

Hazim
……
Hazim Timimi
Data Manager, Tuberculosis Monitoring and Evaluation, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland Tel : +41 22 791 3468

---

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–

Abyot A. Gizaw.

Senior Engineer, DHIS2

University of Oslo

http://www.dhis2.org

[Nayeem_Al_Mifthah]

Dear All

In DHIS2 tracker data element and attribute type ‘Age’ is saving as date and always calculated and show in front page according to difference between current date and date of birth.

For attribute in tracker capture, it is good to calculate and show like existing way as tracker has build to registration and tracking and most cases it is better to show current age. We can Calculate age by using program indicators.

As we know Anonymous and Tracker data have a basic difference that, anonymous data has captured for once. In case of Anonymous events it will give better result if age calculated and show according to difference between event date and birth date rather according to current date.

It would be better if the age calculated according to difference between current date and date of birth in case of an attribute. On the other side in case of data element, Age can be calculated according to difference between event date and date of birth.

I have put the issue in jira.

https://jira.dhis2.org/browse/DHIS2-2345

···

On Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 10:04 PM, Markus Bekken markus@dhis2.org wrote:

Hey,
I know some have used a program rule to calculate the age based on the years between the birth date and either the registration date or the event date. When date of birth is filled out, the “age at visit” or “age at registration” is filled automatically by the rule. When date of birth is not filled out, the data entry person would enter an estimate number into the “age at visit” or “age at registration” field.

Here is an example for how such a program rule could look:

11. okt. 2017 kl. 17.30 skrev Abyot Asalefew Gizaw abyot@dhis2.org:

Hi,

To avoid confusion, probably better we rename AGE value type to DOB - this, I believe, should always be calculated against today.

And for your usecases, what you need is not really DOB or AGE as we know is conventionally … rather just a number that you can store with “age” value.

---

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---

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Nayeem Al Mifthah
Consultant for HSS, Health MIS, M&E
Email: n.mifthah@gmail.com
Cell:+8801914030574

Skype: nayeem.a.m

–

Abyot A. Gizaw.

Senior Engineer, DHIS2

University of Oslo

http://www.dhis2.org

On Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 5:14 PM, TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir timimih@who.int wrote:

Thanks very much Lise, you described my concerns very well (although I had to stop to work out what DE and PI meant!).

Cheers,

Hazim

From: GROUT, Lise
Sent: 11 October 2017 17:09
To: Abyot Asalefew Gizaw; TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir
Cc: dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net

Subject: RE: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

Dear all,

I tested the Age-type date element which is good to capture the approximate age of the patient. But this is a dynamic variable, in the sense that every day, the patient will be older of one day. Obviously, this is a very good attribute for the registration for example in tracker, in order to be able to look for a patient with the age variable, even if s/he shows up months or years later.

But it is also important for us to capture the age at the moment of clinical examination/admission/presentation (whatever the name you give it) and that this variable is static (it won’t change over time). And for this, the age-type DE is therefore not helpful.

We currently have “Date of birth” which is date-type and “Age in years” which is number-type DE, and we would actually like to have a PI “Age at clinical examination” which is calculated with “DOB” if available or “Age in years” if not available (not configured properly yet). Probably, ideally, the PI “Age at clinical examination” should be calculated either on the “DOB” DE or in the approximative DOB provided through the Age-type DE, but I don’t know if this is possible. (Don’t know if I make sense).

Best

Lise.

From: Dhis2-users [mailto:dhis2-users-bounces+groutl=who.int@lists.launchpad.net] On Behalf Of Abyot Asalefew Gizaw
Sent: 11 October 2017 16:46
To: TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir
Cc: dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net
Subject: Re: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

Hi,

We will try to update the documentation

As to the issue you refereed, it is a new one and most of us here haven’t looked into it before… Nonetheless, looking into the requirement mentioned there - I think introducing the concept of age there will probably over complicate things. What is required seems to capture a static figure - and defining a simple data element of type number will handle that.

–

Abyot A. Gizaw.

Senior Engineer, DHIS2

University of Oslo

http://www.dhis2.org

On Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 4:23 PM, TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir timimih@who.int wrote:

Hi Abyot,

Interesting, thanks. I wasn’t aware of the value type called AGE within DHIS2. I tried to find some documentation for this at https://www.dhis2.org/documentation but couldn’t see anything. I only found references to it on Github and also on the 2.26 release notes (https://www.dhis2.org/226). It doesn’t explain what to do if you only know approximate age in years, not whether the reference date is the data entry date or the report/event/diagnosis date (if data entry is post hoc). I see this is already reported as a request in JIRA (https://jira.dhis2.org/browse/DHIS2-2345).

Cheers,

Hazim

From: Abyot Asalefew Gizaw [mailto:abyot@dhis2.org]
Sent: 11 October 2017 15:02
To: TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir
Cc: Edward Robinson; dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net
Subject: Re: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

Hi,

We don’t capture the additional data if DOB is approximated or not…

Otherwise, we have a value type called AGE, then during data entry a special input field is rendered, see below

<image001.jpg>

Users are free to fill any or combination of these and behind the scene the system calculates/updates each field and in the end DOB is saved.

–

Abyot A. Gizaw.

Senior Engineer, DHIS2

University of Oslo

http://www.dhis2.org

On Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 2:21 PM, TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir timimih@who.int wrote:

Hi Ed,

Thanks very much, that makes sense. I also came across this yesterday which seems similar to what you have done in the past (see under “Collection and usage attributes”): http://meteor.aihw.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/287007

Cheers,
Hazim

-----Original Message-----
From: Edward Robinson [mailto:erobinson@projectbalance.com]
Sent: 11 October 2017 13:40
To: TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir; dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net
Subject: RE: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

What we’ve done in the past with other systems is have a field for estimated age at time of registration - only completed if the DOB is not known. DOB is then auto-populated based on the entered age, and an additional YES/NO field is updated to note that the DOB is estimated and not exact.
Ed

-----Original Message-----
From: Dhis2-users [mailto:dhis2-users-bounces+erobinson=projectbalance.com@lists.launchpad.net] On Behalf Of TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir
Sent: Tuesday, 10 October 2017 5:01 PM
To: dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net
Subject: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

Is there a standard approach commonly in use to handle ages when the exact date of birth of a patient is unknown? I can think of two ways – either using a surrogate (approximate) date of birth that tallies with a person’s reported age, or have an extra data element for age at time of diagnosis to be used only if date of birth is unknown. Obviously, if date of birth is known then age is calculated automatically.

I would like to know what people have been using and have seen to be working in practice (and not necessarily just in DHIS2).

Thanks!

Hazim
……
Hazim Timimi
Data Manager, Tuberculosis Monitoring and Evaluation, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland Tel : +41 22 791 3468

---

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---

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[Hazim_Timimi]

Thanks Markus and Nayeem, much appreciated.

Cheers,

Hazim

···

From: Nayeem Al Mifthah [mailto:n.mifthah@gmail.com]
Sent: 11 October 2017 20:27
To: dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net; Markus Bekken; TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir; GROUT, Lise; Abyot Asalefew Gizaw
Subject: Re: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

Dear All

In DHIS2 tracker data element and attribute type ‘Age’ is saving as date and always calculated and show in front page according to difference between current date and date of birth.

For attribute in tracker capture, it is good to calculate and show like existing way as tracker has build to registration and tracking and most cases it is better to show current age. We can Calculate age by using program indicators.

As we know Anonymous and Tracker data have a basic difference that, anonymous data has captured for once. In case of Anonymous events it will give better result if age calculated and show according to difference between event date and birth date rather according to current date.

It would be better if the age calculated according to difference between current date and date of birth in case of an attribute. On the other side in case of data element, Age can be calculated according to difference between event date and date of birth.

I have put the issue in jira.

https://jira.dhis2.org/browse/DHIS2-2345

Nayeem Al Mifthah
Consultant for HSS, Health MIS, M&E
Email: n.mifthah@gmail.com
Cell:+8801914030574

Skype: nayeem.a.m

On Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 10:04 PM, Markus Bekken markus@dhis2.org wrote:

Hey,

I know some have used a program rule to calculate the age based on the years between the birth date and either the registration date or the event date. When date of birth is filled out, the “age at visit” or “age at registration” is filled automatically by the rule. When date of birth is not filled out, the data entry person would enter an estimate number into the “age at visit” or “age at registration” field.

Here is an example for how such a program rule could look:

11. okt. 2017 kl. 17.30 skrev Abyot Asalefew Gizaw abyot@dhis2.org:

Hi,

To avoid confusion, probably better we rename AGE value type to DOB - this, I believe, should always be calculated against today.

And for your usecases, what you need is not really DOB or AGE as we know is conventionally … rather just a number that you can store with “age” value.

–

Abyot A. Gizaw.

Senior Engineer, DHIS2

University of Oslo

http://www.dhis2.org

On Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 5:14 PM, TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir timimih@who.int wrote:

Thanks very much Lise, you described my concerns very well (although I had to stop to work out what DE and PI meant!).

Cheers,

Hazim

From: GROUT, Lise
Sent: 11 October 2017 17:09
To: Abyot Asalefew Gizaw; TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir
Cc: dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net

Subject: RE: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

Dear all,

I tested the Age-type date element which is good to capture the approximate age of the patient. But this is a dynamic variable, in the sense that every day, the patient will be older of one day. Obviously, this is a very good attribute for the registration for example in tracker, in order to be able to look for a patient with the age variable, even if s/he shows up months or years later.

But it is also important for us to capture the age at the moment of clinical examination/admission/presentation (whatever the name you give it) and that this variable is static (it won’t change over time). And for this, the age-type DE is therefore not helpful.

We currently have “Date of birth” which is date-type and “Age in years” which is number-type DE, and we would actually like to have a PI “Age at clinical examination” which is calculated with “DOB” if available or “Age in years” if not available (not configured properly yet). Probably, ideally, the PI “Age at clinical examination” should be calculated either on the “DOB” DE or in the approximative DOB provided through the Age-type DE, but I don’t know if this is possible. (Don’t know if I make sense).

Best

Lise.

From: Dhis2-users [mailto:dhis2-users-bounces+groutl=who.int@lists.launchpad.net] On Behalf Of Abyot Asalefew Gizaw
Sent: 11 October 2017 16:46
To: TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir
Cc: dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net
Subject: Re: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

Hi,

We will try to update the documentation

As to the issue you refereed, it is a new one and most of us here haven’t looked into it before… Nonetheless, looking into the requirement mentioned there - I think introducing the concept of age there will probably over complicate things. What is required seems to capture a static figure - and defining a simple data element of type number will handle that.

–

Abyot A. Gizaw.

Senior Engineer, DHIS2

University of Oslo

http://www.dhis2.org

On Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 4:23 PM, TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir timimih@who.int wrote:

Hi Abyot,

Interesting, thanks. I wasn’t aware of the value type called AGE within DHIS2. I tried to find some documentation for this at https://www.dhis2.org/documentation but couldn’t see anything. I only found references to it on Github and also on the 2.26 release notes (https://www.dhis2.org/226). It doesn’t explain what to do if you only know approximate age in years, not whether the reference date is the data entry date or the report/event/diagnosis date (if data entry is post hoc). I see this is already reported as a request in JIRA (https://jira.dhis2.org/browse/DHIS2-2345).

Cheers,

Hazim

From: Abyot Asalefew Gizaw [mailto:abyot@dhis2.org]
Sent: 11 October 2017 15:02
To: TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir
Cc: Edward Robinson; dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net
Subject: Re: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

Hi,

We don’t capture the additional data if DOB is approximated or not…

Otherwise, we have a value type called AGE, then during data entry a special input field is rendered, see below

<image001.jpg>

Users are free to fill any or combination of these and behind the scene the system calculates/updates each field and in the end DOB is saved.

–

Abyot A. Gizaw.

Senior Engineer, DHIS2

University of Oslo

http://www.dhis2.org

On Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 2:21 PM, TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir timimih@who.int wrote:

Hi Ed,

Thanks very much, that makes sense. I also came across this yesterday which seems similar to what you have done in the past (see under “Collection and usage attributes”): http://meteor.aihw.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/287007

Cheers,
Hazim

-----Original Message-----
From: Edward Robinson [mailto:erobinson@projectbalance.com]
Sent: 11 October 2017 13:40
To: TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir; dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net
Subject: RE: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

What we’ve done in the past with other systems is have a field for estimated age at time of registration - only completed if the DOB is not known. DOB is then auto-populated based on the entered age, and an additional YES/NO field is updated to note that the DOB is estimated and not exact.
Ed

-----Original Message-----
From: Dhis2-users [mailto:dhis2-users-bounces+erobinson=projectbalance.com@lists.launchpad.net] On Behalf Of TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir
Sent: Tuesday, 10 October 2017 5:01 PM
To: dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net
Subject: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

Is there a standard approach commonly in use to handle ages when the exact date of birth of a patient is unknown? I can think of two ways – either using a surrogate (approximate) date of birth that tallies with a person’s reported age, or have an extra data element for age at time of diagnosis to be used only if date of birth is unknown. Obviously, if date of birth is known then age is calculated automatically.

I would like to know what people have been using and have seen to be working in practice (and not necessarily just in DHIS2).

Thanks!

Hazim
……
Hazim Timimi
Data Manager, Tuberculosis Monitoring and Evaluation, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland Tel : +41 22 791 3468

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[Edward_Robinson]

That’s neat, nice.

···

Hi,

We don’t capture the additional data if DOB is approximated or not…

Otherwise, we have a value type called AGE, then during data entry a special input field is rendered, see below

Users are free to fill any or combination of these and behind the scene the system calculates/updates each field and in the end DOB is saved.

–

Abyot A. Gizaw.

Senior Engineer, DHIS2

University of Oslo

http://www.dhis2.org

On Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 2:21 PM, TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir timimih@who.int wrote:

Hi Ed,

Thanks very much, that makes sense. I also came across this yesterday which seems similar to what you have done in the past (see under “Collection and usage attributes”):
http://meteor.aihw.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/287007

Cheers,

Hazim

-----Original Message-----

From: Edward Robinson [mailto:erobinson@projectbalance.com]

Sent: 11 October 2017 13:40

To: TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir; dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net

Subject: RE: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

What we’ve done in the past with other systems is have a field for estimated age at time of registration - only completed if the DOB is not known. DOB is then auto-populated based on the entered age, and an additional YES/NO field is updated to note that the DOB is estimated and not exact.

Ed

-----Original Message-----

From: Dhis2-users [mailto:dhis2-users-bounces+erobinson=projectbalance.com@lists.launchpad.net] On Behalf Of TIMIMI, Hazim Bakir

Sent: Tuesday, 10 October 2017 5:01 PM

To: dhis2-users@lists.launchpad.net

Subject: [Dhis2-users] Standard approach for recording age at the time of diagnosis when date of birth is unknown

Is there a standard approach commonly in use to handle ages when the exact date of birth of a patient is unknown? I can think of two ways – either using a surrogate (approximate) date of birth that tallies with a person’s reported age, or have an extra data element for age at time of diagnosis to be used only if date of birth is unknown. Obviously, if date of birth is known then age is calculated automatically.

I would like to know what people have been using and have seen to be working in practice (and not necessarily just in DHIS2).

Thanks!

Hazim

……

Hazim Timimi

Data Manager, Tuberculosis Monitoring and Evaluation, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland Tel : +41 22 791 3468

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[hernandezmachava]

Hi @Markus,

I am really interested in this post. I would like to see the images you attached in your explanation, but I can not see them.

Thanks

[Edward_Robinson]

It looks like these images have been lost unfortunately - probably related to an upgrade or migration.

[hernandezmachava]

Hi @Edward_Robinson,

I am wondering if you could explain your post to me in pictures/screenchots. I can not understand it very well.

What we’ve done in the past with other systems is have a field for estimated age at time of registration - only completed if the DOB is not known. DOB is then auto-populated based on the entered age, and an additional YES/NO field is updated to note that the DOB is estimated and not exact.

Thanks

[Caroline (Caroline Holen)]

Hi @hernandezmachava
Made a short guide for you.

Program rule variable

1. Go to maintenance app
2. Program - programrule variable
3. Add new program rule variable matching the picture’s below:

• Choose which program you want to make the variable for
• Add a variable name
• If this is a data element you need to choose data element, but if it is a TEA source type will be TEA.
• In drop-down list - find your TEA-field for date of birth(Note: The TEA for date of birth needs to be value type ‘date’)

4. Save the variable

Program rule:

1. Under program section - choose program rule

2. Add new program rule

3. Choose the same program as in the program rule variable and add name and description for the program rule on the first section.

   

4. Go to the next section to add the expression in the program rule.

5. Add the following expression:

We are using the variable we made at first. Saying that the date of birth needs to have a value.

Expression: d2:hasValue(‘dateofbirth’)

6. Go on to the next section to define what job we want the program rule to execute.
7. Add new action - assign value
   

• Action = Assign value
• We want the program rule to assign age based on the date of birth enrolled in TEA: Date of birth to the TEA: Age
• Expression: d2:yearsBetween (A{dateofbirth},V{current_date})
• The expression in action tells the programrule to calculate how many years there are between the date of birth and current date(day)
• Commit and save the program rule

Note: You need to run the cache clean app in DHIS2 before testing the program rule.

[hernandezmachava]

Hi @Caroline,

Thank you for your step by step explanation.