BACKGROUND: The validity of parental reporting of children's health outcomes is an important methodological issue in community-based pediatric research. We assessed the validity of parents' reports of their children's acute otitis media (AOM) history over the previous month in a pilot study of xylitol for AOM prevention. METHODS:Parents of children participating in a study conducted in the Slone Center Office-Based Research (SCOR) Network were interviewed monthly for 3 months and asked whether their child had been diagnosed with AOM in the previous month. A blinded physician reviewed medical records. Results from parental interviews and medical records were compared by correlation analysis. RESULTS:Medical records were obtained for 102 of 120 children (85.0%); 272 monthly interviews were completed. Kappa for the agreement between parental reports and medical records was 0.88 [95% confidence intervals (CI): 0.76 to 0.94]. The positive predictive value of a parental report of an AOM episode within the previous month was 85.0%, and the negative predictive value was 99.1%. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study suggest that parental reporting of children's recent AOM history correlates well with medical records. Parental interview is a reasonable approach to collecting data on recent AOM outcomes, particularly in large-scale community-based studies where obtaining medical records is often impractical.
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BACKGROUND: The validity of parental reporting of children's health outcomes is an important methodological issue in community-based pediatric research. We assessed the validity of parents' reports of their children's acute otitis media (AOM) history over the previous month in a pilot study of xylitol for AOM prevention. METHODS: Parents of children participating in a study conducted in the Slone Center Office-Based Research (SCOR) Network were interviewed monthly for 3 months and asked whether their child had been diagnosed with AOM in the previous month. A blinded physician reviewed medical records. Results from parental interviews and medical records were compared by correlation analysis. RESULTS: Medical records were obtained for 102 of 120 children (85.0%); 272 monthly interviews were completed. Kappa for the agreement between parental reports and medical records was 0.88 [95% confidence intervals (CI): 0.76 to 0.94]. The positive predictive value of a parental report of an AOM episode within the previous month was 85.0%, and the negative predictive value was 99.1%. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study suggest that parental reporting of children's recent AOM history correlates well with medical records. Parental interview is a reasonable approach to collecting data on recent AOM outcomes, particularly in large-scale community-based studies where obtaining medical records is often impractical.
Authors: Rebecca A Hill; Sinead Brophy; Huw Brunt; Mel Storey; Non E Thomas; Catherine A Thornton; Stephen Palmer; Frank Dunstan; Shantini Paranjothy; Roderick McClure; Sarah E Rodgers; Ronan A Lyons Journal: BMC Public Health Date: 2010-03-23 Impact factor: 3.295
Authors: Louis Vernacchio; Michael J Corwin; Richard M Vezina; Steven I Pelton; Henry A Feldman; Tamera Coyne-Beasley; Allen A Mitchell Journal: Pediatrics Date: 2014-01-06 Impact factor: 7.124
Authors: Elaine M Boyle; Gry Poulsen; David J Field; Jennifer J Kurinczuk; Dieter Wolke; Zarko Alfirevic; Maria A Quigley Journal: BMJ Date: 2012-03-01
Authors: Elaina A MacIntyre; Ulrike Gehring; Anna Mölter; Elaine Fuertes; Claudia Klümper; Ursula Krämer; Ulrich Quass; Barbara Hoffmann; Mireia Gascon; Bert Brunekreef; Gerard H Koppelman; Rob Beelen; Gerard Hoek; Matthias Birk; Johan C de Jongste; H A Smit; Josef Cyrys; Olena Gruzieva; Michal Korek; Anna Bergström; Raymond M Agius; Frank de Vocht; Angela Simpson; Daniela Porta; Francesco Forastiere; Chiara Badaloni; Giulia Cesaroni; Ana Esplugues; Ana Fernández-Somoano; Aitana Lerxundi; Jordi Sunyer; Marta Cirach; Mark J Nieuwenhuijsen; Göran Pershagen; Joachim Heinrich Journal: Environ Health Perspect Date: 2013-10-22 Impact factor: 9.031