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[Reproducibility of pediatric information collected with various methods: postal/telephone questionnaire and direct
V Currò1, V Bembo, M Procaccini
1Istituto di Clinica Pediatrica, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Roma, Italia.
Insights
Parental recall of pediatric health data shows moderate reliability across different collection methods. While some data points, like immunization status, were repeatable, overall retrospective reporting has limitations for accurate medical records.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Health Data Collection
- Medical Record Reliability
- Epidemiological Research Methods
Context:
- Evaluating data repeatability in pediatric research is crucial for accurate health assessments.
- Parental reporting of child health information can be subject to recall bias.
- Different data collection instruments may yield varying levels of data accuracy.
Purpose:
- To assess the repeatability of pediatric data collected from parents using telephone interviews, mail questionnaires, and in-person interviews.
- To compare the reliability of retrospective parental data against direct medical record information.
- To determine the suitability of different methods for collecting longitudinal pediatric health information.
Summary:
- This study evaluated the repeatability of pediatric data (measles, immunization, walking development, orthopedic exams) collected retrospectively from parents via mail, phone, and in-person interviews.
- High K statistics were observed for some data points (e.g., anti-measles immunization), but overall reliability was limited by recall bias and low response rates.
- Despite limitations, the findings suggest that while some retrospective data can be repeatable, prospective record-keeping is more reliable for medical data.
Impact:
- Highlights the limitations of retrospective parental reporting for accurate pediatric health data.
- Suggests that prospective individual medical records are more reliable for clinical and research purposes.
- Informs best practices for designing pediatric data collection strategies in research and clinical settings.
Abstract:
The paper reports on a research aimed to evaluate the repeatability of some paediatric data obtained from the parents by using different collection instruments: telephone interview, mail questionnaire, in-person interview. The study included 699 children consecutively born in the Policlinico Universitario "A. Gemelli" from September to November 1983. After 3 years a questionnaire containing questions about measles, anti measles immunization, age at which the baby started to walk, disease delaying the walking, and orthopaedic examinations was sent by mail to 149 families; the other 550 families were searched for by telephone and, if found, asked the same questions. All the contacted families were invited for a paediatric check-up, during which the same data were collected through direct interview. For each question crude agreement and K statistic (which controls for the agreement attributable to chance) were computed with respect to both the phone/direct and mail direct comparisons. 391 families (56%) were traced for the first interview, due to the high number of them which had moved home. Among these 289 (74%) attended the paediatric check-up. On the whole, rather high values of K statistic were observed, ranging from 0.59 (question on diseases delaying the walking, comparison phone/direct) to 0.93 (question on anti-measles immunization, comparison mail/direct). Due to the small sample size, the estimates concerning the comparison mail/direct are rather imprecise. Although its potential is limited by the low response rate, the study brings good evidence that the information considered is not sufficiently reliable when reported retrospectively by parents. However, the keeping of a prospective individual record containing data of medical interest should be encouraged.