title: The US National Tuberculosis Surveillance System: A Descriptive Assessment of the Completeness and Consistency of Data Reported from 2008 to 2012.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In 2009, the Tuberculosis (TB) Information Management System transitioned into the National TB Surveillance System to allow use of 4 different types of electronic reporting schemes: state-built, commercial, and 2 schemes developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Simultaneously, the reporting form was revised to include additional data fields.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Describe data completeness for the years 2008-2012 and determine the impact of surveillance changes.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were categorized into subgroups and assessed for completeness (eg, the percentage of patients dead at diagnosis who had a date of death reported) and consistency (eg, the percentage of patients alive at diagnosis who erroneously had a date of death reported). Reporting jurisdictions were grouped to examine differences by reporting scheme.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Each year less than 1% of reported cases had missing information for country of origin, race, or ethnicity. Patients reported as dead at diagnosis had death date (a new data field) missing for 3.6% in 2009 and 4.4% in 2012. From 2010 to 2012, 313 cases (1%) reported as alive at diagnosis had a death date and all of these were reported through state-built or commercial systems. The completeness of reporting for guardian country of birth for pediatric patients (a new data field) ranged from 84% in 2009 to 88.2% in 2011.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite major changes, completeness has remained high for most data elements in TB surveillance. However, some data fields introduced in 2009 remain incomplete; continued training is needed to improve national TB surveillance data.
authors.affiliation: Centers for Disease Control and PreventionNational Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB PreventionDivision of Tuberculosis EliminationAtlanta, GAUnited States.
authors.forename: Rachel S
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-7467-2622
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Yelk Woodruff
authors.affiliation: Centers for Disease Control and PreventionNational Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB PreventionDivision of Tuberculosis EliminationAtlanta, GAUnited States.
authors.forename: Robert H
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-0290-2908
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Pratt
authors.affiliation: Centers for Disease Control and PreventionNational Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB PreventionDivision of Tuberculosis EliminationAtlanta, GAUnited States.
authors.forename: Lori R
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-5112-0956
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Armstrong
keywords: data cleaning; disease notification; information systems; public health surveillance; quality assurance