Table 4.

Validation of self-reported AF and hospital discharge diagnoses of AF in subgroups according to sex and age with comparisons within subgroups and between self-reported and hospital-diagnosed AF

Validation of AF diagnosis – subgroups	Sensitivity	Specificity	PPV	NPV
Female sex
HUNT3 questionnaires – all participants	44.1f	99.2f	54.1c,f	98.8c,f
“AF question” – those who received QCVD	52.0f	96.5f	54.1c,f	96.2c,f
Hospital discharge diagnoses of AF	74.6	99.8a	88.0	99.5c
Male sex
HUNT3 questionnaires – all participants	52.5f	99.2e	74.3f	97.8f
“AF question” – those who received QCVD	59.6f	96.7f	74.3f	93.6f
Hospital discharge diagnoses of AF	73.2	99.6	88.8	98.8
Age ≥70 years
HUNT3 questionnaires – all participants	44.9b,f	98.1c,d	77.4c,e	92.6c,f
“AF question” – those who received QCVD	52.2b,f	96.6f	77.4c,f	90.1c,f
Hospital discharge diagnoses of AF	73.1	99.0c	91.4a	96.3c
Age <70 years
HUNT3 questionnaires – all participants	57.6f	99.4f	55.8f	99.4e
“AF question” – those who received QCVD	65.0	96.6f	55.8f	97.7f
Hospital discharge diagnoses of AF	74.7	99.8	84.0	99.7

Notes:

^aP<0.05,

^bP<0.01,

^cP<0.001 for male vs female sex and age over vs under 70 years.

^dP<0.05,

^eP<0.01,

^fP<0.001 for hospital-diagnosed vs self-reported AF in each subgroup.

Abbreviations: AF, atrial fibrillation; NPV, negative predictive value; PPV, positive predictive value; QCVD, cardiovascular-specific questionnaire; HUNT3, third survey of the HUNT Study.