Accuracy in the Norwegian Ablation and Electrophysiology Registry

Objectives: National medical quality registries are essential sources of information on patient populations and treatment pathways. They support registry-based research and provide national surveillance of clinical activity, assuming adequate data quality.Methods: This qualitative validation study assessed accuracy in the Norwegian Ablation and Electrophysiology Registry (AblaNor) by comparing registry data with a patient-record review in a randomly selected sample. A sample of 155 procedures was drawn from AblaNor. For each participating hospital, the registry administration prepared an electronic worklist containing personal identification numbers and procedure dates. An experienced electrophysiologist at each hospital reviewed the patient records and re-entered all variables into a dedicated study interface of the registry. Eighty-six variables contained sufficient information for inclusion in the accuracy analysis. For each variable, the proportion of correct registrations in AblaNor was calculated using the record review as reference.Results: Of the 86 variables examined, 72 demonstrated accuracy above 90%. Variables with lower accuracy included classification of ostial/antral pulmonary vein isolation (88%), COPD–OSA (88%), and EHRA symptoms (79%). Continuous variables had proportions of correct values ranging from 67% to 89%, when allowing minor discrepancies, most variables exceeded 90% correctness.Conclusions: Most variables demonstrated satisfying overall accuracy, although some specific variables levels showed lower proportions of agreement.