Accuracy of adult reported pneumococcal vaccination status of children.
OBJECTIVE
A pneumococcal conjugate vaccine was licensed in 2000 for use in children. To evaluate the accuracy of an adult's recall of children's vaccination status with the pneumococcal vaccine, the authors conducted a cross-sectional survey of adults in Philadelphia County from January to December 2003.


METHODS
Subjects were identified by random digit dialing and interviewed regarding the age and vaccination status of all children 6 years old or younger with whom they had significant contact. The gold standard for determining the accuracy of vaccine status reports was the Kids Immunization Database/Tracking System (KIDS) at the City of Philadelphia Department of Public Health.


RESULTS
One hundred twenty-two interviews were completed with vaccination data collected on 185 children. One hundred sixty-six children (90%) were matched with records in the KIDS registry. The sensitivity and specificity of adult reported child vaccine status were 0.65 (95% CI, 0.55, 0.74) and 0.47 (95% CI, 0.34, 0.61), respectively. Agreement between adult report and the KIDS registry was 59%. Significant variation in agreement was not found to be related to demographic characteristics of the adult subjects.


CONCLUSIONS
Adult report of the pneumococcal vaccination status of children was found to be relatively inaccurate and did not vary by known demographic characteristics.
Czaja
Chris
C
Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Crossette
Linda
L
Metlay
Joshua P
JP
D000328:Adult; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D015143:Philadelphia; D022242:Pneumococcal Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D012650:Self Disclosure; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014611:Vaccination / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
D022242:Pneumococcal Vaccines