Accuracy of the Swedish quality registry for caries and periodontal diseases (SKaPa) – evaluation in 6- and 12-year-olds in the region of Värmland, Sweden

Abstract

Objectives

This study evaluates the agreement of data on dental caries between electronic dental records and data retrieved from the national SKaPa-registry (Swedish Quality Registry for caries and periodontal disease), with special reference to e/M in deft/DMFT.

Methods

In a random sample of 500 6- and 12-year-old children having received dental care in 2014 in the county region of Värmland, Sweden, the diagnostic accuracy of data in electronic dental records with corresponding data obtained from the SKaPa-registry was compared by using Cohen’s Kappa and Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC).

Results

For dft/DFT the Kappa was 0.95, and ICC 0.98 (total population). For deft/DMFT in the total population the Kappa was 0.80 and ICC 0.96. For 6-year-olds (deft) the Kappa was 0.89 and ICC 0.99 and for 12-year-olds (DMFT) the Kappa was 0.70, and ICC 0.83. The corresponding figures for Kappa and ICC when excluding individuals without caries (deft/DMFT = 0) were: Total population 0.63 and 0.94; 6-year-olds 0.79 and 0.99; 12-year-olds 0.42 and 0.68.

Conclusion

Agreement between data in the dental records and SKaPa was very high for dft/DFT confirming that transfer from the dental records to the SKaPa-registry is safe and correct. As the accuracy of deft/DMFT was considerably lower than for dft/DFT we advise against using deft/DMFT data from SKaPa for research purposes at this point.

Keywords:

• Data accuracy
• registries
• child
• dental caries

Acknowledgements

The authors thank The Swedish Quality Registry for Caries and Periodontal Diseases (SKaPa) for providing access to the registry’s data.

Author contributions

TK, GK, ST and AC conceived ideas and designed the study. TK and CC managed the data collection. TK, ANA and GK performed the statistical analysis. All authors participated in interpretation of the study results, contributed to the manuscript, and read and approved the final draft. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by research funds from Centrum for research and education (CKF), Region Värmland, Sweden. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.