Comparing Self-reported and Physician-reported Medical History

The authors compared self-reported medical history and medication use in a cataract casecontrol study of 1,380 persons (1985–1989) in Boston, Massachusetts, with information from the participants' physicians. Under- and overreporting varied by condkion and type of medication. A setf-reported hi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of epidemiology 1994-04, Vol.139 (8), p.813-818
Main Authors: Kehoe, Robert, Wu, Suh-Yuh, Leske, M. Cristina, Chylack, Leo T.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Bias
Biological and medical sciences
cardiovascular diseases
Case-Control Studies
Cataract - complications
Cataract - drug therapy
Cataract - epidemiology
Chronic Disease
data collection
diabetes mellitus
Epidemiologic Methods
Epidemiology
Female
General aspects
Humans
interviews
Male
Medical History Taking - standards
Medical sciences
Methodology
Middle Aged
Prevalence
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Reproducibility of Results
Sensitivity and Specificity
Surveys and Questionnaires - standards
Citations: Items that cite this one
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Summary:The authors compared self-reported medical history and medication use in a cataract casecontrol study of 1,380 persons (1985–1989) in Boston, Massachusetts, with information from the participants' physicians. Under- and overreporting varied by condkion and type of medication. A setf-reported history of hypertension had the highest sensitivity (91%), and diabetes history had the highest specificity (97%). Among different rnedications investigated, self-reported antihypertensive medication use was the most sensitive (88%), while self-reported use of insulin was the most specific (99%). Differences between patient- and physician-reported frequencies were very small, except for arthritis (15%) and regular aspirin use (21%). Results suggest an accurate recall of medical and drug usage history in welldefined chronic conditions.
ISSN:0002-9262
1476-6256
DOI:10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a117078