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Cluster Headache Electronic Records Compromised
Headache; ePub 2016 Jun 6; Rizzoli, Loder, et al
The positive predictive value (PPV) of electronic health record (EHR) diagnoses of cluster headache (CH) is modest, according to a recent study. Researchers examined data from the Research Patient Data Registry (RPDR) to identify all patients diagnosed with CH from 2002 to 2012 (n=170). They found:
• In 58 cases, the diagnosis of CH was determined to be inaccurate due to data entry errors.
• The PPV of an RPDR diagnosis of CH was 63%.
• Only about three-fourths of CH cases diagnosed by expert clinicians meet International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICHD) criteria for CH.
• EHR searches for patients with CH frequently will result in false positives.
Rizzoli P, Loder E, Joshi S. Validity of cluster headache diagnoses in an electronic health record data repository. [Published online ahead of print June 6, 2016]. Headache. doi:10.1111/head.12850.