title: Valid Responses to ABO Blood Type Question in Self-reporting Questionnaire.
abstract: This paper reports the sensitivity and specificity of self-reported ABO blood type. Subjects were 283 outpatients who participated in Helicobacter pylori eradication program at Aichi Cancer Center Hospital. Excluding seven patients, an ABO blood test was successfully conducted for 276 participants (133 males and 143 females). Only three participants answered their blood type differently from the results of the blood test; one A-type male answered to be with AB type, one B-type male with AB type, and one AB-type male with A type. Nine participants stated that they did not know their ABO blood type. The sensitivity was 98.7% (95% confidence interval, 92.8-100.0%) for 75 O-type individuals, 96.1% (90.3-98.9%) for 102 A-type individuals, 92.9% (84.1-97.6%) for 70 B-type individuals, and 93.1% (77.2-99.2%) for 29 AB-type individuals, when the nine individuals were included. The specificity was more than 99% for any blood type. These findings revealed that self-reported ABO blood type is highly valid for epidemiologic studies.
authors.affiliation: Division of Epidemiology and Prevention, Aichi Cancer Center Research Institure, Nagoya 464-8681 Japan.
authors.forename: Hidemi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Keitaro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Matsuo
authors.forename: Toshiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Kaoru
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hirose
authors.forename: Manami
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.forename: Toshiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takezaki
authors.forename: Nobuyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hamajima
authors.forename: Tetsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kuroishi
authors.forename: Kazuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tajima