Who remembers whether they had asthma as children?
OBJECTIVE
To assess misclassification in adults reporting childhood asthma.


METHODS
The Tasmanian Asthma Survey commenced in 1968 when 8,583 7-year-old children attending school in Tasmania (participants) were studied. In 1991-1993, a stratified sample of 1,494 participants was studied. Their recall of childhood asthma was compared to their parents' prospectively gathered report.


RESULTS
Where participants had childhood asthma, those with current asthma, severe eczema, or hay fever were less likely to misclassify while females were more likely to misclassify. Where participants had no childhood asthma, misclassification was associated with current asthma, hay fever, or allergies.


CONCLUSIONS
Retrospective self-assessment of childhood asthma is unreliable.
Burgess
John A
JA
Centre for Molecular, Environmental, Genetic and Analytical Epidemiology, The University of Melbourne, 723 Swanston Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia. j.burgess@pgrad.unimelb.edu.au
Walters
E Haydn
EH
Byrnes
Graham B
GB
Wharton
Cathryn
C
Jenkins
Mark A
MA
Abramson
Michael J
MJ
Hopper
John L
JL
Dharmage
Shyamali C
SC
D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008499:Medical Records; D008568:Memory; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010290:Parents; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013648:Tasmania / Q000453:epidemiology