Driver's licenses as a source of data on height and weight.
We investigated the feasibility of using driver's license records to obtain height and weight data of individuals. First, we linked Washington State driver's license records (DOL) to the state birth files to assess how well driver's licenses can be linked to a public health database. We were able to match 78.4% of mothers and 71.7% of fathers on birth records to driver's license records. Then we assessed the accuracy of DOL height and weight data by comparing them to heights and weights measured on control women enrolled in a cancer etiology study (CES). There is a close relation between CES and DOL heights, but not a close relation between weights. Our results suggest that driver's license files are a good source of information for women's heights, but are not as good for women's weights.
Washington State Department of Health, P.O. Box 47812, Olympia, WA 98504-7812, USA. eric.ossiander@doh.wa.gov
Eric M
EM
Ossiander
Irvin
I
Emanuel
William
W
O'brien
Kathleen
K
Malone
D001334:Automobile Driving; D001827:Body Height; D001835:Body Weight; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008004:Licensure / Q000592:standards*; D008297:Male; D014861:Washington / Q000453:epidemiology