American Journal of Epidemiology, Vol 152, Issue 5 480-486, Copyright © 2000 by Oxford University Press
C Infante-Rivard and L Jacques
Recall bias is a major concern in case-control studies in which
questionnaire data are used to assess past exposure. The authors conducted
a validation substudy within the framework of a parent case- control study
on risk factors for acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children aged < or
=9 years diagnosed in 1980-1993 in Quebec, Canada. Parental recall bias for
two variables was assessed: reported distance from home to power lines
compared with measured distance and reported prenatal radiographic
examinations compared with hospital medical record data. For reported
distance, sensitivity was 62% for a subgroup of cases living in an area in
which an excess of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia was perceived and
was attributed to power lines. However, for other cases, sensitivity (35%)
was similar to that measured for hospital controls (36%) and was relatively
close to that for population controls (22%). Specificity was high for all
groups except cases from the area with a perceived excess. Sensitivity for
reported prenatal radiographic examinations was similar for cases (64%) and
population controls (71%) but was lower for hospital controls (50%).
Results confirm that under special circumstances, such as those resulting
from enhanced public concern, parental recall can be differential but
otherwise is most often nondifferential, with low sensitivity. Choosing the
best type of controls to ensure comparable recall accuracy remains
difficult.
ARTICLES
Empirical study of parental recall bias
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. cirivard@epid.lan.mcgill.ca
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