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American Journal of Epidemiology Advance Access published online on June 10, 2009
American Journal of Epidemiology, doi:10.1093/aje/kwp139
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American Journal of Epidemiology © The Author 2009. Published by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

Practice of Epidemiology

How Accurately Do Young Adults Recall Childhood Pets? A Validation Study

Charlotte Nicholas, Ganesa Wegienka, Suzanne Havstad, Dennis Ownby, Christine Cole Johnson and Edward Zoratti

Correspondence to Charlotte Nicholas, 1 Ford Place, 3E, Detroit, MI 48202 (e-mail: cnichol4{at}hfhs.org).

Received for publication November 7, 2008. Accepted for publication April 30, 2009.

Epidemiologic research shows that pets influence human health, demonstrating both protective and deleterious health risks; therefore, valid definitions of pet exposure would enhance research. The authors determined how well young adults aged 18 years report their early childhood pets. Subjects in an established birth cohort from Detroit, Michigan, born in 1987–1989 (n = 820) were asked a series of questions about pets in the home during their first 6 years of life. Pet recall was compared with annual prospectively collected parental report from 12–18 years prior. Exposure to cats was correctly reported on average 86.3% of the time (95% confidence interval: 85.0, 87.5) and dogs 79.2% (95% confidence interval: 77.7, 80.6) of the time (P < 0.01). Cats and dogs were more likely to be underreported than overreported, from as few as 1.8-fold to as many as 8.3-fold (P < 0.05). Reporting differed by sex of the respondent and current pet ownership. No differences were found in reporting by those who experienced allergy symptoms near dogs or cats. Findings suggest good reliability of young adult pet reporting for ages 0–6 years but that childhood pet exposure may need to be assessed separately depending on the participant's sex and the outcome of interest.

animals, domestic; asthma; cats; cohort studies; dogs; hypersensitivity; mental recall; validation studies


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