Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27354826›Full record

ArticleClinical epidemiology2016

Validation of self-reported and hospital-diagnosed atrial fibrillation: the HUNT study.

Vegard Malmo, Arnulf Langhammer, Kaare H Bønaa, Jan P Loennechen, Hanne Ellekjaer

Open access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Clinical epidemiology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
27citing papers in PubMed
3.1field-weighted citation impact, top 8% of its field
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

27 citing papers in PubMed, 49 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
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  4. Timing of stroke risk reassessment in atrial fibrillation patients with a CHA2DS2-VA score of 0 or 1: the Norwegian AFNOR study.Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology · 2025
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  11. Cohort Profile Update: The HUNT Study, Norway.International journal of epidemiology · 2023
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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

5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Vegard MalmoDepartment of Circulation and Medical Imaging, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway; Department of Cardiology, St Olav's Hospital, Trondheim, Norway.
Arnulf LanghammerDepartment of Public Health and General Practice, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
Kaare H BønaaDepartment of Cardiology, St Olav's Hospital, Trondheim, Norway; Department of Public Health and General Practice, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway; Department of Community Medicine, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromso, Norway.
Jan P LoennechenDepartment of Circulation and Medical Imaging, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway; Department of Cardiology, St Olav's Hospital, Trondheim, Norway.
Hanne EllekjaerStroke Unit, Department of Internal Medicine, St Olav's Hospital, Trondheim, Norway; Department of Neuroscience, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
Norwegian University of Science and Technology · NOSt Olav's University Hospital · NO

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundSelf-reported atrial fibrillation (AF) and diagnoses from hospital registers are often used to identify persons with AF. The objective of this study was to validate self-reported AF and hospital discharge diagnoses of AF among participants in a population-based study. MATERIALS AND

methodsAmong 50,805 persons who participated in the third survey of the HUNT Study (HUNT3), 16,247 participants from three municipalities were included. Individuals who reported cardiovascular disease, renal disease, or hypertension in the main questionnaire received a cardiovascular-specific questionnaire. An affirmative answer to a question on physician-diagnosed AF in this second questionnaire defined self-reported AF diagnoses in the study. In addition, AF diagnoses were retrieved from hospital and primary care (PC) registers. All AF diagnoses were verified by review of hospital and PC medical records.

resultsA total of 502 HUNT3 participants had a diagnosis of AF verified in hospital or PC records. Of these, 249 reported their AF diagnosis in the HUNT3 questionnaires and 370 had an AF diagnosis in hospital discharge registers before participation in HUNT3. The sensitivity of self-reported AF in HUNT3 was 49.6%, specificity 99.2%, positive predictive value (PPV) 66.2%, and negative predictive value (NPV) 98.4%. The sensitivity of a hospital discharge diagnosis of AF was 73.7%, specificity 99.7%, PPV 88.5%, and NPV 99.2%.

conclusionUse of questionnaires alone to identify cases of AF has low sensitivity. Extraction of diagnoses from health care registers enhances the sensitivity substantially and should be applied when estimates of incidence and prevalence of AF are studied.

Indexed as

atrial fibrillationdiagnosisepidemiologyquestionnairevalidation

Identifiers

PMID27354826
PMCPMC4910677
OpenAlexW2410077590

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.