Validation of the rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis in the Swedish National Patient Register: a cohort study from Stockholm County.

Background: The Swedish National Patient Register offers unique possibilities for identification of large cohorts, such as patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Although the overall diagnostic validity in the register has been reported as good, the aims of this study were to a) specifically validate the RA diagnosis from contemporary outpatient specialist care in this register, and b) assess the proportion of patients identified via algorithms to define incident RA in the register who in clinical practice also have new-onset disease.

Methods: 211 individuals with prevalent or incident RA in the National Patient Register were included.