The reporting of stigmatizing health conditions: a comparison of proxy and self-reporting.

Previous studies have found that self-respondents tend to report a greater number of health problems than do household proxies. It has not been clear, however, if such results indicate reporting bias or reflect underlying health differences in the self-respondent and household proxy populations. Verification data from a survey of medical providers were examined in conjunction with the results of a national household survey. Our analysis indicates that the use of proxies does not increase misreporting. Overall reporting error between self-respondents and proxy-respondents is comparable on reports of mental illness. When physical stigmatizing conditions are examined, the use of proxies actually appears to be preferable to interviewing respondents directly.