Hi Kevin,
There are a few conventions and rules related to relative timing variables themselves, such as --ENRTPT/–ENTPT shouldn’t be populated if a value for --ENDTC is present for the record and --ENTPT must appear in the dataset with the variable --ENRTPT, but there are no rules regarding the value present for --ENTPT. However, it is correct that this variable should be populated with a value that is meaningful for the study. Together, this means that, technically, the value for the would be allowable to be used, as in, there is not a conformance rule that would be triggered by using this value for --ENTPT, however, if this date value is reflective of any possible updates within the EDC system, then it may become meaningless in terms of the record in SDTM, and subsequently, the analysis. The example you gave in your question demonstrates this nicely.
Instead, --ENTPT should be populated with a value that is descriptive of when the end of the event, intervention, or finding/finding about took place. For example, for log forms where events or interventions may be marked as ongoing, it is common to see the Date of Visit or Visit value used as the value that populates --ENTPT so that the record contains --ENRTPT=ONGOING and --ENTPT=[Date of last visit] or [Last Visit Name]. This lets a reviewer know that the event or intervention was still ongoing as of the date the participant’s last visit happened.
I hope this helps!
