Data quality assessment of a South African electronic registry for drug-resistant TB, 2015-2016

Assessment of bedaquiline roll-out in South Africa requires accurate patient data in EDRWeb, a national case-based rifampicin-resistant TB (RR-TB) surveillance register.

To ensure EDRWeb data reflect programmatic DR-TB source data, we implemented a data quality improvement initiative.

We conducted data quality assessments of EDRWeb data compared to paper patient folders at two South African RR-TB treatment facilities in 2015 and 2016. We assessed 80 patient records before the intervention for completeness of clinically relevant data fields, and 80 different records after the intervention for completeness and concordance. The intervention involved reviewing and updating EDRWeb along with data quality audits with direct feedback to sites.

At baseline data completeness per site was lowest for variables related to electrocardiogram (ECG) data, adverse events, and concomitant medications (completeness for these fields ranged from 0% to 80%). Post-intervention data completeness and concordance were high for all fields except those related to ECG data (ECG-related field completeness ranged from 10% to 100%).

After a data quality initiative, data completeness improved at each site with the exception of ECG data fields. Our findings suggest that data quality interventions may improve patient clinical registries, ultimately enabling better evidence-based decision making for TB programmes.