Evidence map›Paper›PMID 23793682›Full record

ArticleBMJ open2013

Error rates in a clinical data repository: lessons from the transition to electronic data transfer--a descriptive study.

Matthew K H Hong, Henry H I Yao, John S Pedersen, Justin S Peters, Anthony J Costello, Declan G Murphy, Christopher M Hovens, Niall M Corcoran

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMJ open, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 34 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
34citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

34 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Trial
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  9. Uncertainties in outcome modelling in radiation oncology.Physics and imaging in radiation oncology · 2025
    Review
  10. Article
  11. Article
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  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Clinical Data Warehousing: A Scoping Review.Journal of the Society for Clinical Data Management · 2024
    Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Digital media archive for gross pathology images based on open-source tools and Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR).Modern pathology : an official journal of the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology, Inc · 2021
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Matthew K H HongDivision of Urology, Department of Surgery, University of Melbourne, Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Australian Prostate Cancer Research Centre Epworth, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Henry H I Yao
John S Pedersen
Justin S Peters
Anthony J Costello
Declan G Murphy
Christopher M Hovens
Niall M Corcoran

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveData errors are a well-documented part of clinical datasets as is their potential to confound downstream analysis. In this study, we explore the reliability of manually transcribed data across different pathology fields in a prostate cancer database and also measure error rates attributable to the source data.

designDescriptive study.

settingSpecialist urology service at a single centre in metropolitan Victoria in Australia.

participantsBetween 2004 and 2011, 1471 patients underwent radical prostatectomy at our institution. In a large proportion of these cases, clinicopathological variables were recorded by manual data-entry. In 2011, we obtained electronic versions of the same printed pathology reports for our cohort. The data were electronically imported in parallel to any existing manual entry record enabling direct comparison between them. OUTCOME MEASURES: Error rates of manually entered data compared with electronically imported data across clinicopathological fields.

results421 patients had at least 10 comparable pathology fields between the electronic import and manual records and were selected for study. 320 patients had concordant data between manually entered and electronically populated fields in a median of 12 pathology fields (range 10-13), indicating an outright accuracy in manually entered pathology data in 76% of patients. Across all fields, the error rate was 2.8%, while individual field error ranges from 0.5% to 6.4%. Fields in text formats were significantly more error-prone than those with direct measurements or involving numerical figures (p<0.001). 971 cases were available for review of error within the source data, with figures of 0.1-0.9%.

conclusionsWhile the overall rate of error was low in manually entered data, individual pathology fields were variably prone to error. High-quality pathology data can be obtained for both prospective and retrospective parts of our data repository and the electronic checking of source pathology data for error is feasible.

Indexed as

clinical informaticsdatabasedata qualityerror sourcesprostate cancer

Identifiers

PMID23793682
PMCPMC3657671

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.