Abstract
Objective
To retrospectively assess the quality of cardiovascular disease risk factor measurements
in routinely collected data and to examine whether there are systematic differences
in measurement quality between individuals of different socioeconomic status, and
changes in measurement quality over time.
Study Design and Setting
Comparison of last digit preference in risk factor measurement between a “routine”
data set (related to a primary care–based UK cardiovascular risk factor screening
programme) and relevant prospective epidemiological surveys (Health Survey for England
[HSE] and WHO MONICA). For the routine data set, the records of 37,161 women and 33,977
men aged 35–60 years with a first screening episode during the 11-year period 1989–1999
were analyzed.
Results
Last digits of height, weight, and total cholesterol measurements in the routine data
set did not exhibit a digit preference pattern, although the degree of random measurement
error was greater compared with epidemiological survey data. The last digits of systolic
and diastolic blood pressure (BP) measurements exhibited a strong last digit preference
pattern for “0”—comprising 63.1% and 67.3% of all observations in men and women, respectively.
Except for diastolic BP in men, last digit distribution patterns were not associated
with participant's socioeconomic status and showed no change over time.
Conclusion
It may be feasible to study changes over time in cardiovascular disease risk factor
levels in different socioeconomic groups using routine data sets; however, prior critical
examination of measurement quality is necessary.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: November 23, 2007
Accepted:
May 3,
2007
Identification
Copyright
© 2008 Elsevier Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
