Ten Years of Data Verification: The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Congenital Heart Surgery Database Audits

The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Congenital Heart Surgery Database (STS CHSD) audits the data of 10% of its participants every year. Assessment of the completeness and accuracy of data fields related to demographics, preoperative risk factors, diagnosis, procedure, complications, and mortality is performed. Overman and colleagues summarize the results of the tenth audit of the STS CHSD in this article. The rates of completeness and agreement for general data elements were both over 97%. The rate of completeness for variables in the mortality review was 100%, with a rate of agreement of 99.3%. The authors conclude that the most recently completed STS CHSD audit shows a very high level of completeness and accuracy of data variables, highlighting that this is true for variables that are most germane to outcomes measurement.