Data errors in the National Hip Fracture Database: a local validation study

Bone Joint J. 2016 Oct;98-B(10):1406-1409. doi: 10.1302/0301-620X.98B10.37089.

Abstract

Aims: We present an audit comparing our level I major trauma centre's data for a cohort of patients with hip fractures in the National Hip Fracture Database (NHFD) with locally held data on these patients.

Patients and methods: A total of 2036 records for episodes between July 2009 and June 2014 were reviewed.

Results: The demographics of nine patients were recorded incorrectly. The rate of incorrect data in operation codes was most significant with overall accuracy of 0.637 (95% CI 0.615 to 0.658). The sensitivity of NHFD coding ranged from 0.250 to 1.000 and the specificity 0.879 to 0.999. The recording of cementation had a sensitivity of 0.932 and specificity of 0.713. The recording of total hip arthroplasty had a sensitivity of 0.739 and specificity of 0.983. The overall accuracy of mortality data was 0.942 (95% CI 0.931 to 0.952), with sensitivity of 0.967 and specificity of 0.419.

Conclusion: This paper highlights the need for local audit of the integrity of data uploaded to the NHFD. Cite this article: Bone Joint J 2016;98-B:1406-9.

Keywords: Accuracy; Administrative database; National Hip Fracture Database; Validation.

Publication types

  • Validation Study

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip / statistics & numerical data*
  • Databases, Factual
  • Female
  • Hip Fractures / epidemiology*
  • Hip Fractures / surgery
  • Humans
  • Incidence
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • ROC Curve
  • Registries / statistics & numerical data*
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Retrospective Studies
  • United Kingdom / epidemiology