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An Analysis of Health Insurance Data Using the Directed Acyclic Graph: An Application in Nigeria
Abstract
Background:
In this study, we used the total amount of insurance claims from patients in Nigeria as the data to investigate the direct and indirect effects of the diagnoses.
Methods:
We applied the Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) with the total amount of the claims for each month for 89 diagnoses using datasets drawn from private insurance companies in Nigeria from January 2015 to September 2016, which provided 21 records for each diagnosis.
Results:
The result from DAG showed three pairs of direct effects: (1) Absolute Neutrophil Count (ANC) had a direct effect on appendectomy, (2) Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) had a direct effect on caesarean section, and (3) Glaucoma had a direct effect on insomnia.
Conclusion:
The most interesting result pertained to the third pair of diagnoses which is pertinent to research worldwide. We not only explored the relationship in a scientific way, but also the direction of the effect provided a basis for recommendations for healthcare in Nigeria and worldwide.
