title: Poor agreement between self-reported birth weight and birth weight from original records in adult women.
abstract: Data from an ongoing prospective population study of women in Göteborg, Sweden, were used to assess agreement between self-reported birth weight and birth weight obtained from original delivery records of women aged 44-60 years. Of the eligible population with traced delivery records (n = 693), only 28% (n = 192) could report their own birth weight. Spearman correlation between self-reported birth weight and birth weight from original records was r = 0.76. However, a difference plot, with limits of agreement at -1,028 to 1,038 g (95% confidence limits: lower limit, -1,157 to -901 g, upper limit, 910 to 1,166 g) revealed poor agreement between methods. Of the self-reported birth weights, 53% were in error by 250 g or more, and 31% were positively or negatively discordant by 500 g or more. Application in an analysis of cardiovascular risk factors in adulthood found conflicting results between self-reported and recorded birth weights. Low reporting rate, poor reporting accuracy, and misleading findings in application led to the conclusion that self-reported birth weights from middle-aged women would not be a satisfactory replacement for birth weights from original records.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Nutrition, Göteborg University, Sweden. susan.andersson@nutrition.gu.se
authors.forename: S W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Andersson
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Niklasson
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lapidus
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hallberg
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bengtsson
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hulthén
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001724:Birth Weight; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017533:Marital Status; D008499:Medical Records; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012650:Self Disclosure; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden