Table 1.

Linkage using Medicare number and suffix (V1)

Iteration	Linkage Variables used in V1	Records Linked	Records remaining
1	Medicare81 + Medsuf12	1,667	333
2	Medicare8+first and second letters of Medsuf1+Sex	7	326
3	Medicare8+ second and third letters of Medsuf1+Sex	2	324
4	Medicare8+first and third letters of Medsuf1+Sex	0	324
5	Medicare8+Yearbirth+Sex	26	298
6	Medsuf1+Yearbirth+Monthbirth+Daybirth+Sex+Country of Birth+Postcode1	32	266
7	Medsuf1+Yearbirth+Monthbirth+Daybirth+Sex+Country of Birth+Postcode2	4	262
8	Medsuf1+Yearbirth+Monthbirth+Daybirth+Sex+Country of Birth+Postcode3	2	260
9	Medsuf1+Yearbirth+Monthbirth+Daybirth+Sex+Country of Birth+Postcode4	1	259
10	Yearbirth+Monthbirth+Daybirth+Sex+Country of Birth+Postcode1	124	135
	Total Matched	1865	135

¹ First 8 digits of the Medicare number; ² First 3 letters of the first name