Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (24)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by HALABI, S.
Right arrow Articles by SAAB, B.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by HALABI, S.
Right arrow Articles by SAAB, B.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© 1992 Oxford University Press

research-article

Reliability and Validity of Self and Proxy Reporting of Morbidity Data: A Case Study from Beirut, Lebanon

SUSAN HALABI*,{dagger},, HUDA ZURAYK*, RANA AWAIDA*, MAY DARWISH* and BASSEM SAAB{ddagger}

*Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut Beirut, Lebanon
{dagger}Community Oncology Program, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center Houston, Texas, USA
{ddagger}Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut Beirut, Lebanon

Reprint request to: Susan Halabi, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Community Oncology Program, Box 501, 1515 Holcombe Boulevard, Houston, TX 77030, USA.

We compared the self-reported illnesses (heart disease, back pain, rheumatoid arthritis, hypertension, and pulmonary disease) and smoking histories of 100 cases and 100 controls matched for age and sex with reports of this information from proxy informants from the same household in two areas in the city of Beirut. In addition, both cases and controls were given physical examinations to evaluate the accuracy of the responses. The level of agreement between the responses of subjects and of their informants varied from one condition to the other. Heart disease had the highest level of agreement, with the proportion of agreement greater than 93% for the cases and the controls and having x values of 0.79 and 1.0, respectively. The report of back pain exhibited the lowest level of agreement, with responses showing a proportion of agreement of 74% for the cases and 90% for the controls, with x values of 0.49 and 0.50, respectively. In comparing the responses of subjects and proxy informants with the results of physical examinations, heart disease had the highest level of agreement (J index ranged from 0.69 to 0.84), and back pain had the lowest level of agreement (J index ranged 0.42 to 0.48). These results show that proxy informants are good respondents for members of the same household and that health interview surveys are accurate for data collection of well defined chronic conditions.

Received 1 November 1991


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Int J EpidemiolHome page
T. Medical Research Council Cognitive Function and Ag
Survey into health problems of elderly people: a comparison of self-report with proxy information
Int. J. Epidemiol., August 1, 2000; 29(4): 684 - 697.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Int J EpidemiolHome page
T. Medical Research Council Cognitive Function and Ag
Survey into health problems of elderly people: multivariate analysis of concordance between self-report and proxy information
Int. J. Epidemiol., August 1, 2000; 29(4): 698 - 703.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.