title: Reproducibility and validity of maternal recall of pregnancy-related events.
abstract: We assessed the reproducibility and validity of a questionnaire that asks mothers to recall pregnancy-related events from thirty or more years ago. Among 146 women who completed the questionnaire twice, responses were highly reproducible for pre-pregnancy height and weight (r = 0.95), pregnancy complications (r = 0.74), substance use (r = 0.80), preterm delivery (r = 0.82), birthweight (r = 0.94), and breastfeeding (r = 0.89). Among 154 women whose questionnaire responses were compared to data collected during their pregnancies, recall was highly accurate for height (r = 0.90), pre-pregnancy weight (r = 0.86), birthweight (r = 0.91), and smoking (sensitivity = 0.86, specificity = 0.94). These findings suggest that long-term maternal recall is both reproducible and accurate for many factors related to pregnancy and delivery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Tomeo
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Rich-Edwards
authors.forename: K B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Michels
authors.forename: C S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Berkey
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Hunter
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Frazier
authors.forename: W C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Willett
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Buka
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007743:Labor, Obstetric; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D011247:Pregnancy; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires