Role of primary and secondary care data in atrial fibrillation ascertainment: impact on risk factor associations, patient management, and mortality in UK Biobank.

ABSTRACT:

Aims

Electronic healthcare records (EHR) are at the forefront of advances in epidemiological research emerging from large-scale population biobanks and clinical studies. Hospital admissions, diagnoses, and procedures (HADP) data are often used to identify disease cases. However, this may result in incomplete ascertainment of chronic conditions such as atrial fibrillation (AF), which are principally managed in primary care (PC). We examined the relevance of EHR sources for AF ascertainment, and the implications for risk factor associations, patient management, and outcomes in UK Biobank.

Methods and results

UK Biobank is a prospective study, with HADP and PC records available for 230 000 participants (to 2016). AF cases were ascertained in three groups: from PC records only (

SUBMITTER: Camm CF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11799740 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature