Abstract
Aims:
To use intermethod reliability to compare self-reported data about chronic respiratory disease and health service utilisation with data contained in general practice medical records.
Methods:
Self-reported postal questionnaire information from a small cohort of an age-sex stratified sample of 2318 patients was compared with information contained in their medical records. The agreement between the two sources of information was assessed.
Results:
The case notes of 115/135 individuals from eight general practices were examined. For self-reported chest injury or operation (κ, κ=−0.03), or chronic bronchitis (κ=0.10), agreement was poor. Agreement for self-reported pleurisy (κ=0.32), hay fever or rhinitis (κ=0.40), or eczema or dermatitis (κ=0.30) was fair; for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or emphysema (κ=0.56), or heart trouble (κ=0.54), agreement was moderate; for asthma (κ=0.78) or pneumonia (κ=0.62), agreement was good; and for pulmonary tuberculosis (κ=0.88), agreement was very good. The strength of agreement for information about health service utilisation for respiratory problems ranged from moderate to very good and was good for smoking status.
Conclusions:
Although based on small numbers, our results suggest good or very good agreement between self-reported data and general practice medical records for the absence or presence of some respiratory conditions and some types of respiratory-related health care utilisation. Depending on the research question being examined self-reported information may be appropriate.
Similar content being viewed by others
Article PDF
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
Professor David B Price isa member of the international editorial board of the Primary Care Respiratory Journal. Otherwise the authors have no conflicts of interest.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Iversen, L., Hannaford, P., Godden, D. et al. Do people self-reporting information about chronic respiratory disease have corroborative evidence in their general practice medical records? A study of intermethod reliability. Prim Care Respir J 16, 162–168 (2007). https://doi.org/10.3132/pcrj.2007.00013
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3132/pcrj.2007.00013
This article is cited by
-
Psychometric Properties of the Short Scale Anxiety Sensitivity Index Among Adults with Chronic Respiratory Disease
Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings (2024)
-
Psychological distress and symptom-related burnout in asthma during the COVID-19 pandemic
Journal of Behavioral Medicine (2023)
-
Serum antioxidant vitamins and respiratory morbidity and mortality: a pooled analysis
Respiratory Research (2022)
-
Work stress, family stress and asthma: a cross-sectional study among women in China
International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health (2017)
-
Determinants of patients’ needs in asthma treatment: a cross-sectional study
npj Primary Care Respiratory Medicine (2016)