How accurate are diagnoses for rheumatoid arthritis and juvenile idiopathic arthritis in the general practice research database?

Abstract

Validity of an RA diagnosis among RA-coded GPRD individuals appears high for patients with specific characteristics. The findings are important for both interpreting results of published GPRD studies and identifying RA/JIA patients for future GPRD-based research. However, several limitations were identified, and further debate is needed on how best to validate chronic disease diagnoses in the GPRD.