Evaluation of the National Minimum Data Set for Neurological Conditions in Older Adults

AIM: To evaluate the National Minimum Data Set (NMDS) against the International Resident Assessment Instrument-Home Care (interRAI-HC) in diagnosing dementia or Parkinson disease (PD). METHOD: The NMDS data were matched with interRAI-HC for all older individuals in New Zealand. Dementia or PD was compared within 90 and 180 days and 1 to 4 years preceding and subsequent to the date of diagnosis in interRAI-HC. Consistency was measured through sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), weighted kappa (kappa), and McNemar test. RESULTS: For a diagnosis within 90 days, dementia showed 60.77% sensitivity, 95.33% specificity, 68.46% PPV, and 93.58% NPV. The PD showed 65.74% sensitivity, 99.52% specificity, 80.43% PPV, and 98.98% NPV. kappa for dementia (kappa = 0.59), PD (kappa = 0.720), and McNemar test was significant ( P < .001) for all lengths of follow-up. CONCLUSION: Substantial agreement between multiple sources of health data can be a valuable resource for decision-making in older people with neurological conditions.