Validity and completeness of colorectal cancer diagnoses in a primary care database in the United Kingdom.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

To validate the recorded diagnoses of colorectal cancer (CRC) and identify false negatives in The Health Improvement Network (THIN) primary care database.

Methods

We conducted a validation study of incident CRC cases in THIN among patients aged 40-89 years from 2000-2011. CRC Read code entries (N = 3805) were verified by manual review of patients' electronic medical records (EMRs) including free-text comments. Incident CRC cases in THIN ascertained following manual review were validated against two data sources deemed gold standards: (i) questionnaires sent to primary care practitioners (PCPs; for a random sample of 100 potential CRC cases), and (ii) Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) among linked practices. False negatives in THIN were identified by searching for Int

SUBMITTER: Cea Soriano L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5054928 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature