Agreement between self-reports, proxy-reports and the National Patient Register regarding diagnoses of cardiovascular disorders and diabetes mellitus in a population-based sample of 80-year-olds

Abstract

Background cognitive impairment is common among older adults, necessitating the use of collateral sources in epidemiological studies involving this age group. The objective of this study was to evaluate agreement between self- and proxy-reports of cardiovascular disorders and diabetes mellitus in a population-based sample of 80-year-olds. Further, both self- and proxy-reports were compared with hospital register data. Methods data were obtained from the Gothenburg H70 Birth Cohort Studies in Sweden. The study had a cross-sectional design and information was collected through semi-structured interviews in 2009–2012 from participants born in 1930 (N = 419) and their proxy informants. The National Patient Register provided diagnoses registered during hospital stays. Agreement was measured with Kappa values (K). Results agreement between self- and proxy-reports was substantial for diabetes mellitus (K = 0.79), atrial fibrillation (K = 0.61), myocardial infarction (K = 0.75), angina pectoris (K = 0.73) and hypertension (K = 0.62), and fair for intermittent claudication (K = 0.38) and heart failure (K = 0.40). Compared to the National Patient Register, a large proportion of those with a hospital discharge diagnosis were also self- and proxy-reported. Conclusions proxy informants can be an important source of information, at least for well-defined conditions such as myocardial infarction, angina pectoris and diabetes mellitus.

Atrial fibrillation increases the risk of dementia amongst older adults even in the absence of stroke

“…However, we had the possibility to include proxy informants, register data and information from ECG. In another study, we found a substantial agreement between proxy‐ and self‐reported history of atrial fibrillation . Thus, we believe that we were able to detect most cases of atrial fibrillation.…”

Atrial Fibrillation, Stroke, and Silent Cerebrovascular Disease

“…We have previously validated self-reported AF diagnoses in the H70-studies against register data and found a substantial agreement between the two sources (Kappa=0.61). 43 However, some limitations should also be recognized. First, this study has a cross-sectional design, which does not allow us to assess causal relationships.…”

The rise in the number of long-term survivors from different diseases can slow the increase in life expectancy of the total population

“…This study is based on data drawn from several Swedish population registers, namely the register of the total population, the National Patient Register and the Swedish Cancer Register [16][17][18][19][20]. The data covers all men and women over the age of 60 who were residing in Sweden at any point in time during 1994 and 2016.…”