Validity of stroke diagnosis on hospital discharge records in Saskatchewan, Canada: implications for stroke surveillance.
This study examines the validity of the diagnosis of stroke on hospital discharge records in Saskatchewan, Canada. In total, 1,494 records with a discharge diagnosis of 'stroke' or a 'stroke-related condition' were reviewed. The clinical algorithm of the 1980 USA National Survey of Stroke was considered the 'gold standard'. The positive predictive value of a primary diagnosis of stroke in the tertiary-care hospitals was about 90%. In community hospitals the majority of stroke cases were coded as ICD9 436 in which the positive predictive value was 78%. The variation between regions would limit the use of hospital discharge data for stroke surveillance.
Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada.
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L
Liu
B
B
Reeder
A
A
Shuaib
R
R
Mazagri
D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D003951:Diagnostic Errors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006783:Hospitals, State; D006801:Humans; D008499:Medical Records; D015588:Observer Variation; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012525:Saskatchewan