The completeness, validity, and timeliness of AIDS surveillance data

PURPOSE: To assess the completeness, validity, and timeliness of the AIDS s urveillance system after the 1993 change in the surveillance case definitio n. METHODS: To assess completeness of AIDS case reporting, three study sites c onducted a comparison of their AIDS surveillance registries with an indepen dent source of information. To evaluate validity, the same sites conducted record reviews on a sample of reported AIDS cases, we then compared agreeme nt between the original report and the record review for sex, race, and mod e of transmission. To evaluate timeliness, we calculated the median delay f rom time of diagnosis to case report, before and after the change in case d efinition, in each of the three study sites. RESULTS: After expansion of the case definition, completeness of AIDS case reporting in hospitals (greater than or equal to 93%) and outpatient settin gs (greater than or equal to 90%) was high. Agreement between the informati on provided on the original case report and the medical record was > 98% fo r sex, > 83% for each race/ethnicity group; and > 67% for each risk group. The median reporting delay after the change was four months, but varied by site from three to six months. CONCLUSIONS: The completeness, validity, and timeliness of the AIDS surveil lance system remains high after the 1993 change in the surveillance case de finition. These findings might be useful for programs implementing integrat ed HIV and AIDS surveillance systems. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All ri ghts reserved.