A comparison of information on motor vehicle crashes as reported by written or telephone interviews.
OBJECTIVE
To compare information about traffic crash injuries and kilometers driven reported in a written questionnaire with information reported in a telephone interview.


METHODS
Telephone and paper surveys.


METHODS
The Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra (SUN, University of Navarra Follow-up) study, in Spain. The SUN study is an open enrollment cohort study with 17 000 enrolled graduates followed through biennial mailed questionnaires.


METHODS
A sample of 542 individuals from the SUN study participants.


METHODS
Agreement on information about traffic crash injuries and mileage driven in a mailed questionnaire and a telephone survey.


RESULTS
Participation was 90.4%. Considering the phone survey as the gold standard, data on traffic crash injuries in the mailed questionnaire had 83% sensitivity (95% CI 77% to 89%), 77% specificity (95% CI 71% to 82%), 74% positive predictive value (95% CI 67% to 80%), and 89% negative predictive value (95% CI 83% to 93%). Agreement beyond chance, measured by the kappa statistic, was 0.63 (95% CI 0.56 to 0.70). Correlation between questionnaire and telephone surveys and kilometers driven on average during a year assessed by the intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.64 (95% CI 0.57 to 0.70), p<0.001.


CONCLUSIONS
Information on sustained traffic crash injuries and traveled mileage over the previous two years as reported through mailed questionnaires in a highly educated population could be used in the study of associations between traffic crash injuries and a variety of risk factors.
Alonso
A
A
Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, School of Medicine, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain.
Laguna
S
S
Seguí-Gómez
M
M
D000063:Accidents, Traffic; D000328:Adult; D001334:Automobile Driving; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012307:Risk Factors; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013030:Spain; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*