Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41966173›Full record

ArticleInternational journal of health policy and management2025

Comprehensive Evaluation of Quality Indicators: Analyzing the Dutch Breast Cancer Audit.

Elfi M Verheul, Margrietha van der Linde, Hester F Lingsma, Elvira Vos, Sabine Siesling, Linetta B Koppert, Nbca Consortium

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in International journal of health policy and management, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Assessing the real-world value of hemophilia care: how suitable are patient-centered outcomes for hospital-level comparisons?International journal for quality in health care : journal of the International Society for Quality in Health Care · 2026
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Elfi M VerheulCenter for Medical Decision Making, Department of Public Health, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0001-6163-2579
Margrietha van der LindeCenter for Medical Decision Making, Department of Public Health, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0001-6034-0064
Hester F LingsmaCenter for Medical Decision Making, Department of Public Health, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0003-2063-9533
Elvira VosDepartment of Surgery, Rhode Island Hospital, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-8468-4363
Sabine SieslingDepartment of Research, Netherlands Comprehensive Cancer Organization (IKNL), Utrecht, The Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0002-0273-824X
Linetta B KoppertDepartment of Surgery, Erasmus MC Cancer Institute, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0003-1944-6777
Nbca ConsortiumCenter for Medical Decision Making, Department of Public Health, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundQuality indicators (QIs) are widely used to benchmark hospital performance and improve quality of care but are often based on expert opinion rather than data-driven assessment. This study aims to evaluate QIs, using a framework that assesses four criteria: Feasibility, discriminative ability, validity, and reliability.

methodsWe used data from the Dutch breast cancer registry (NABON Breast Cancer Audit, NBCA) and included all surgically treated breast cancer patients in the Netherlands between 2021-2023. Eighteen QIs were evaluated. Feasibility was determined by QI numerator completeness, with >90% data availability considered feasible. Discriminative ability was assessed by between-hospital variation in QI scores, where an interquartile range (IQR) >10% indicated good discrimination. Validity was evaluated by the impact of case-mix adjustment and considered low when (pseudo-) R² <0.10. The (pseudo-)R² reflects the proportion of variance in QI scores explained by all case-mix variables in a regression model. Reliability was assessed by rankability, the proportion of between-hospital variation not due to chance and, therefore, explainable by quality of care. Rankability >75% was considered high.

resultsAfter exclusion of one QI with feasibility <1%, feasibility ranged from 80.2%-100%, and 15 QIs were feasible. Overall, the IQR ranged from 1 to 36, with 8 QIs having an IQR higher than 10, indicating good discriminative ability. The (pseudo-)R² ranged from 0.01-0.53, with 11 QIs showing low case-mix impact. Rankability ranged from 0-69%, with none of the QIs having a high rankability. None of the QIs met all preset criteria, but six QIs met at least three out of four criteria.

conclusionThe QIs employed by the Dutch breast cancer registry fulfilled most criteria, but rankability is a concern and requires specific attention, especially for public reporting. Our results show the importance of considering feasibility, discriminative ability, validity, and reliability when evaluating QIs, and these should also be taken into account when developing new QIs.

Indexed as

Breast NeoplasmsQuality Indicators, Health CareAgedFeasibility StudiesFemaleHumansMedical AuditMiddle AgedNetherlandsRegistriesReproducibility of ResultsCancer CareClinical RegistriesHealthcare QualityQuality Indicator EvaluationQuality Indicators

Identifiers

PMID41966173
PMCPMC12958241

What Socratic holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.