Accuracy of self-reported health histories: a study

Many military health care providers (including most dental providers) depend on self-reported health questionnaires for critical information about their patients' medical history. These questionnaires demand high standards of patient self-awareness and integrity, and their importance justifies checking their accuracy. The authors checked the accuracy of 155 self-reported health histories by comparing them with histories documented in medical records. Although we found some discrepancies, over 95% of our sample showed reasonable agreement between self-reported medical histories and documented medical histories.