Observed agreement in the Norwegian quality register for severe headaches.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Documenting data quality is essential for ensuring that register data can be used in quality improvement efforts and research. The aim of this data quality study was to examine inter-rater agreement between healthcare personnel's registering of variables in the Norwegian quality register for severe headaches, based on anonymised case reports.

MATERIAL AND METHOD: All neurology departments in Norwegian hospitals were invited to register variables based on ten case reports reflecting real, unstructured medical records. Data were collected in a customised database, and inter-rater agreement between healthcare personnel was calculated.

RESULTS

Eleven of the 18 invited neurology departments participated in the study. Observed agreement was ≥ 90 % for 18 of a total of 28 variables, with 100 % agreement for questions on smoking and medication use. Agreement was lower for variables where some case reports lacked information or were based on interpretations. This was particularly true for questions on the efficacy of acute and preventive medication, as well as the number of headache days.

INTERPRETATION: There was agreement for the majority of register variables, which is reassuring for future research on quality register data.