title: A validation study: how effective is the Hospital Morbidity Data as a surveillance tool for heart failure in Western Australia?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the accuracy of the hospital discharge coding of heart failure (HF) in the Western Australian (WA) Hospital Morbidity Data (HMD).
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective medical chart review of a sample of 1,006 patients with a principal diagnosis code indicating HF in the WA HMD was undertaken. Validation was reported against a written diagnosis of HF in the medical chart and using Boston criteria score as a gold standard.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The positive predictive value (PPV) of the HMD coding of HF as the principal diagnosis was 99.5% when compared to the medical chart diagnosis and 92.4% when compared to the Boston score criteria for 'definite' HF and 98.8% for a combined 'possible' and 'definite' HF Boston score.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  With the high predictive accuracy, the WA HMD can be used with confidence to monitor trends in the epidemiology of in-hospital HF patients.
authors.affiliation: School of Population Heath, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia. kteng@meddent.uwa.edu.au
authors.forename: Tiew-Hwa Katherine
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Teng
authors.forename: Judith
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Finn
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hung
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Geelhoed
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hobbs
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D005568:Forms and Records Control / Q000592:standards; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006751:Hospital Information Systems; D006786:Hospitals, Urban / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D038801:International Classification of Diseases; D008297:Male; D008485:Medical Audit; D009017:Morbidity; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods*; D012494:Sampling Studies; D014904:Western Australia / Q000453:epidemiology