Second, we may have missed some patients with diabetes who were given diet and lifestyle recommendations and were not prescribed any oral hypoglycaemic agents (OHA) or insulin. In conclusion, we have shown that it is possible to create a diabetes register based on the information in the primary health care medical records and on participation in one of the largest population-based health surveys in the world. type 2 diabetes (76.8%). Type 1 diabetes was the second largest group (7.2%), including a sub-group of patients with latent autoimmune diabetes Arglabin (4.8%). Conclusion It was concluded that it is feasible to create a diabetes register based on information in medical records in general practice. However, special attention should be paid to the validity of the diabetes diagnosis and its classification. strong class=”kwd-title” Key Words: Diabetes, classification, register, primary health care There is a trend for automated data retrieval from electronic patient records aiming to create high-quality registries. A diabetes register was created within the V?sterbotten intervention programme; the basis Arglabin for the diabetes diagnosis was studied and the diabetes classification between the general practitioners (GP) and specialists compared, and the diabetes was re-classified after analysis of autoantibodies associated with type 1 diabetes. This study shows that the vast majority of the diabetes diagnoses were in accordance with the WHO criteria but a large percentage of diabetes was classified as unspecified diabetes by the GPs; thus special attention should be paid to validation of data before automated retrieval of data from medical records in general practice. Background The prevalence of diabetes mellitus in Sweden has been estimated at 2C4%, with an annual incidence of 0.2C0.4% and the majority of patients have type 2 diabetes [1C4]. Both type 1 and type 2 diabetes are associated with complications affecting various Arglabin organs. This is due to damage in small vessels resulting in retinopathy, nephropathy and neuropathy, and macroangiopathy, i.e. an accelerated arteriosclerosis, resulting in cardiovascular morbidity and death [5,6]. Chronic diabetic Arglabin complications affect quality of life and/or life expectancy and increase the burden not only for the individual patient but also for society at large, through increased costs for health care and loss of productivity [7]. The county HNRNPA1L2 of V?sterbotten in Northern Sweden has one of the world’s largest (n 125 000) and most comprehensive datasets based on continuous population-based health surveys, the V?sterbotten Intervention Programme (VIP) [8]. In addition, more than 90% of the participants in VIP have donated a blood sample to the medical biobank in Ume?, Sweden [9], which makes it one of the largest biobanks in the world. Together, the database and the biobank represent an opportunity for diabetes research with the possibility to study the impact of a range of topics from the effect of geneCenvironment interactions on diabetes development to the effect of psychosocial stress on the incidence of diabetes and its complications. Therefore, we have created a diabetes register, the Diabetes register in Northern Sweden (DiabNorth), based on the VIP study cohort. The overall aim of DiabNorth is to establish a database to facilitate studies of risk factors for the development of diabetes per se and diabetes-related acute and long-term complications. A valid diagnosis and classification of type of diabetes is the foundation of all high-standard studies. There is an increasing interest in retrieving data from medical records automatically [10]. This can be achieved using different software e.g. Medrave (http://www.medrave.com/estartsida.htm). However, these automatic downloads generate cases that are seldom validated, which might bias the results. Thus, we aimed to study the classification of patients in the register made by clinicians, diabetologists, and validation/re-classification after analysis of autoantibodies associated with type 1 diabetes. Material and methods Arglabin Design of DiabNorth The VIP was initiated in 1985 with the aim of preventing cardiovascular disease (CVD) and diabetes [8]. The reason for starting the VIP was the high CVD mortality in the county as compared with the rest of Sweden [11]. In the VIP, participants were invited to their local primary health.