Comparison of two VA laboratory data repositories indicates that missing data vary despite originating from the same source.
BACKGROUND
Assessing accuracy and completeness of data is an important component of conducting research. VA Healthcare System benefits from a highly developed electronic medical information system. The Immunology Case Registry was designed to monitor costs and quality of HIV care. The Decision Support System was developed to monitor utilization and costs of veterans in care. Because these systems extract data from the same source using independent methods, they provide an opportunity to compare the accuracy and completeness of each.


OBJECTIVE
To compare overlapping laboratory data from the Veterans Affairs Health Information System between 2 data repositories.


METHODS
For hemoglobin, CD4 lymphocyte counts (CD4), HIV RNA viral load, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, glycosylated hemoglobin, creatinine, and white blood count, we calculated the percent of individuals with a value from each source. For results in both repositories, we calculated Pearson's correlation coefficients.


METHODS
A total of 22,647 HIV+ veterans in the Virtual Cohort with a visit in fiscal year 2002.


RESULTS
For 6 out of 9 tests, 68% to 72% of the observations overlapped. For CD4, viral load, and glycosylated hemoglobin less than 31% of observations overlapped. Overlapping results were nearly perfectly correlated except for CD4.


CONCLUSIONS
Six of the laboratory tests demonstrated remarkably similar amounts of overlap, though Immunology Case Registry and Decision Support System both have missing data. Findings indicate that validation of laboratory data should be conducted before its use in quality and efficiency projects. When 2 databases are not available for comparison, other methods of validation should be implemented.
McGinnis
Kathleen A
KA
Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion, VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
Skanderson
Melissa
M
Levin
Forrest L
FL
Brandt
Cynthia
C
Erdos
Joseph
J
Justice
Amy C
AC
D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000378:metabolism; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases / Q000378:metabolism; D002984:Clinical Laboratory Information Systems / Q000592:standards*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003404:Creatinine / Q000097:blood; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin / Q000032:analysis; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006787:Hospitals, Veterans / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007755:Laboratories, Hospital / Q000592:standards*; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized / Q000592:standards*; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D012015:Reference Standards; D012042:Registries / Q000592:standards; D012107:Research Design; D018511:Systems Integration; D014481:United States; D014493:United States Department of Veterans Affairs; D019562:Viral Load / Q000592:standards
D000410:Alanine Transaminase; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases; D003404:Creatinine; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin