Validity of hospital discharge registry in acute glaucoma

Validity of hospital discharge registry in Finland was evaluated in acute glaucoma. Hospital records of 172 patients with the diagnosis 370.00 (acute glaucoma) in the registry were collected from different hospitals. The typical findings in acute glaucoma were searched for in patient documents. The diagnosis of acute glaucoma was in agreement in both the registry and in the present investigation in 80.2%. Other recordings validated in patient files (% of agreement in parenthesis) were: date of birth (98.8%), social security number (92.4%), sex (99.4%), hospital code (100%), date of admission (88.4%), date of discharge (90.2%). The type of hospital did not affect the amount of false recordings. The highest percentage of false recordings was noticed in the health care centers. The most common false diagnoses were: simple glaucoma (11 cases), secondary glaucoma (8 cases) and chronic congestive glaucoma (7 cases). The validity assessment is of importance in epidemiologic studies employing discharge registries.