Clinical epidemiology
Validity of Administrative ICD-10 Diagnosis Codes for Ventricular Arrhythmia and Cardiac Arrest in a French University Hospital
By Pluquet M, Balcaen T, Laville SM and 1 others.
Abstract
Purpose
Drug-induced QT interval prolongation increases the risk of ventricular arrhythmias and cardiac arrest. Assessing these outcomes in electronic health databases and evaluating their association with drug exposure requires prior validation of administrative diagnostic codes. This study aimed to evaluate the positive predictive value (PPV) of International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision (ICD-10) codes for ventricular arrhythmias and cardiac arrest in the French hospital discharge summary database (Programme de Médicalisation des Systèmes d'Information (PMSI)).
Methods
In a retrospective validation study, we examined PMSI data recorded at Amiens University Medical Center (Amiens, France). Hospital stays between September 2022 and August 2025 with ICD-10 codes for cardiac arrest (I46.0, I46.9), ventricular tachycardia (I47.2), or ventricular fibrillation/flutter (I49.0) were identified. Events were confirmed by electronic medical record review. PPVs with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. The study design prevented the estimation of sensitivity, specificity, and negative predictive values. Sensitivity analyses were stratified by year, and by type of care unit. Exposure to QT-prolonging medications prior to events was also assessed.