Table 2 Atrial fibrillation audit: incidence of diagnosed atrial fibrillation (January 2000 to December 2003) and guideline compliance.
| Observed number (standardised rate per million per month) | City I: AF training | City II: TIA training (control) | North: AF training | South & West: TIA training (control) | Pooled significance | Combined odds ratio estimate (95% CI) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diagnosis of AF | |||||||||||
| Before intervention (27 months) | 62 (56*) | 50 (49*) | 129 (113*) | 192 (69*) | 0.026†‡ | 1.36*‡ | |||||
| After intervention (21 months) | 58 (64*) | 43 (56*) | 166 (186*) | 166 (77*) | (1.04 to 1.78) | ||||||
| Number (%) complying with best practice recommendations | City I: AF training | City II: TIA training (control) | Standardised difference in % (AF trained – untrained) | North: AF training | South & West: TIA training (control) | Standardised difference in % (AF trained – untrained) | Pooled significance | Combined odds ratio (95% CI) | |||
| Not complying at intervention | 76 | 75 | 116 | 214 | |||||||
| Complying by end of study (n) | 14 (18%) | 13 (17%) | +2.2%‡ | 42 (36%) | 55 (26%) | +10.6%‡ | 0.103†‡ | 1.42‡ (0.93 to 2.17) | |||
| Diagnosed July 2000 to Mar 2002 (21 months) | 42 | 44 | 107 | 145 | |||||||
| Complying before intervention (n) | 22 (52%) | 22 (50%) | +4.7%‡ | 60 (56%) | 76 (52%) | +3.4%‡ | 0.543†‡ | 1.14‡ (0.74 to 1.76) | |||
| Diagnosed April 2002 to Dec 2003 (21 months) | 58 | 43 | 166 | 166 | |||||||
| Complying by end of study (n) | 38 (66%) | 22 (51%) | +14.8%‡ | 101 (61%) | 93 (56%) | +6.9%‡ | 0.141†‡ | 1.34‡ (0.91 to 1.96) | |||
AF, atrial fibrillation; TIA, transient ischaemic attack.
*Adjusted for sampling fraction in each practice.
†Mantel–Haenzel test.
‡Standardised or adjusted for age and sex.
Together the combined odds ratios in the last subtable estimate the odds that training improves compliance at 1.18 (95% CI 0.96 to 1.45).