Assessing the suitability of general practice electronic health records for clinical prediction model development: a data quality assessment

Abstract

Background: The use of general practice electronic health records (EHRs) for research purposes is in its infancy in Australia. Given these data were collected for clinical purposes, questions remain around data quality and whether these data are suitable for use in prediction model development. In this study we assess the quality of data recorded in 201,462 patient EHRs from 483 Australian general practices to determine its usefulness in the development of a clinical prediction model for total knee replacement (TKR) surgery in patients with osteoarthritis (OA). Methods: Variables to be used in model development were assessed for completeness and plausibility. Accuracy for the outcome and com..