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Updated: Jul 4, 2026

Experimental Human Pneumococcal Carriage
Published on: February 15, 2013
Race/ethnicity and validity of self-reported pneumococcal vaccination
Nancy P Gordon1, Pascale M Wortley, James A Singleton
1Kaiser Permanente Division of Research, Oakland, CA, USA. nancy.gordon@kp.org
Background:
National and state surveys show large disparities in pneumococcal vaccination status among Whites, Blacks and Latinos aged >/= 65. The purpose of this study is to determine whether there is any difference in the validity of self-report for pneumococcal vaccination by race/ethnicity that might contribute to the substantial disparities observed in population-level coverage estimates.
Methods:
Self-reported vaccination status was compared with medical record documentation for samples of White, Black, and Latino members of a large health plan to examine whether differences in validity of self-report contribute to observed disparities.
Results:
Sensitivity was significantly lower for Blacks (0.849, 95% CI 0.818-0.876) and Latinos (0.869, 95% CI 0.847-0.889) than for Whites (0.931 95% CI 0.918-0.942). Specificity was somewhat higher for Blacks than for Latinos and Whites, but the differences were not statistically significant. Coverage for Whites, Blacks and Latinos, respectively, was 84.3%, 73.5%, and 82.3% based on self-report, but 74.8%, 71.9%, and 84.2% based on medical records.
Conclusion:
The results of this study suggest that differential self-report error, i.e., summative effect of over-reporting and under-reporting within a race-ethnic group, may contribute to the size and direction of race-ethnic disparities in pneumococcal vaccination observed in surveys.
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