Measuring Surgical Quality: a National Clinical Registry Versus Administrative Claims Data

This study compared postoperative complications of patients who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) recorded in the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) to patients who underwent PD recorded in the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) National Inpatient Sample (NIS). Data included 8,822 PD cases recorded in NSQIP and 9,827 PD cases recorded in NIS performed between 2005 and 2010. Eighteen postoperative adverse outcomes were identified in NSQIP and then matched to corresponding International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) codes in NIS. Using logistic regression, the relationship between database and postoperative complications was determined while accounting for patient factors. Patients undergoing PD in the NIS were more likely to have several adverse outcomes, including urinary tract infection (odds ratio (OR) = 1.42, p