Data errors in the National Hip Fracture Database: a local validation study.

AIMS: We present an audit comparing our level I major trauma centre's data for a cohort of patients with hip fractures in the National Hip Fracture Database (NHFD) with locally held data on these patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 2036 records for episodes between July 2009 and June 2014 were reviewed.
RESULTS: The demographics of nine patients were recorded incorrectly. The rate of incorrect data in operation codes was most significant with overall accuracy of 0.637 (95% CI 0.615 to 0.658). The sensitivity of NHFD coding ranged from 0.250 to 1.000 and the specificity 0.879 to 0.999. The recording of cementation had a sensitivity of 0.932 and specificity of 0.713. The recording of total hip arthroplasty had a sensitivity of 0.739 and specificity of 0.983. The overall accuracy of mortality data was 0.942 (95% CI 0.931 to 0.952), with sensitivity of 0.967 and specificity of 0.419.
CONCLUSION: This paper highlights the need for local audit of the integrity of data uploaded to the NHFD. Cite this article: Bone Joint J 2016;98-B:1406-9. ©2016 The British Editorial Society of Bone & Joint Surgery.