title: Abdominal aortic aneurysm repair in New Zealand: a validation of the Australasian Vascular Audit.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In New Zealand (NZ), there are two major sources of operative data for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair: the Australasian Vascular Audit (AVA) and the National Minimum Data Set (NMDS). Since the introduction of the AVA in NZ, there has not been any attempt at the validation of outcome data. The aims of this study were to report the outcomes of AAA repair and validate the AAA data captured by AVA using the NMDS.
  
  
  METHODS
  AAA procedures performed in NZ from January 2010 to December 2014 were extracted from the AVA and NMDS. Patients identified from the AVA had their survival status matched to the NMDS. Only primary AAA procedures were included for the analysis, with re-interventions and graft infections excluded. Demographical, risk factors and outcome data were used for validation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The number of patients undergoing primary AAA procedure from AVA and NMDS was 1713 and 2078, respectively. The AVA inpatient mortality for elective and rupture AAA was 1.6 and 32.2%, respectively. The NMDS 30-day mortality from AAA was 2.5 and 31.5%. Overall, 1604 patients were available for matching, and the NMDS correctly reported 98.1% of endovascular aneurysm repair and 94.2% of elective AAA repairs; however, there were major differences in comorbidity reporting between the data sets.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Both data sets were incomplete, but combining administrative (NMDS) and clinical (AVA) data sets provided a more accurate assessment of mortality figures. More than 80% of AAA repairs are captured by AVA, but further work to improve compliance and comorbidity documentation is required.
authors: Department of Surgery, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand.
authors: Manar
authors: M
authors: Khashram
authors: Department of Surgery, Dunedin Hospital, Dunedin, New Zealand.
authors: Ian A
authors: IA
authors: Thomson
authors: Department of Surgical Sciences, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
authors: Gregory T
authors: GT
authors: Jones
authors: Department of Surgery, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand.|Department of Vascular Endovascular and Transplant Surgery, Christchurch Hospital, Christchurch, New Zealand.
authors: Justin A
authors: JA
authors: Roake
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017544:Aortic Aneurysm, Abdominal / Q000401:mortality* / Q000601:surgery*; D001019:Aortic Rupture / Q000401:mortality* / Q000601:surgery*; D044362:Australasia / Q000453:epidemiology; D054869:Clinical Audit / Q000379:methods*; D015897:Comorbidity; D017558:Elective Surgical Procedures / Q000401:mortality*; D057510:Endovascular Procedures / Q000401:mortality; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality; D009520:New Zealand / Q000453:epidemiology; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000379:methods; D012307:Risk Factors; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Australasian Vascular Audit; abdominal aortic aneurysm; surgical audit