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Validity of self-reported time to pregnancy
Maureen A Cooney1, Germaine M Buck Louis, Rajeshwari Sundaram
1Division of Epidemiology, Statistics and Prevention Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Rockville, MD 20852, USA.
Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.)
|December 6, 2008
Summary
Retrospective time to pregnancy (TTP) recall is unreliable. Many women inaccurately report their TTP, potentially skewing fertility research and classifications.
Area of Science:
- Reproductive epidemiology
- Human fertility studies
Background:
- Retrospective time to pregnancy (TTP) reliability is established.
- Validity of retrospective TTP has been minimally assessed with limited follow-up.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the validity of retrospective time to pregnancy (TTP) recall.
- To compare self-reported TTP with prospective diary data.
Main Methods:
- Ninety-nine women from a prior prospective TTP study were surveyed via mail.
- Mailed questionnaire responses were compared to their original daily diary data (gold standard).
Main Results:
- One-third of women could not recall TTP in cycles or months.
- Exact TTP recall was achieved by only 17%-19% of women.
- Recall agreement improved to 72%-77% within a +/-3 month window; longer TTP or prior pregnancies led to under-reporting.
Conclusions:
- Self-reported TTP validity is questionable.
- Recalled TTP may introduce significant error in fecundability estimations.
- Inaccurate TTP recall can affect the classification of couples' fecundity status.
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