title: Who remembers whether they had asthma as children?
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: 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
authors.forename: John A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Burgess
authors.forename: E Haydn
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Walters
authors.forename: Graham B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Byrnes
authors.forename: Cathryn
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wharton
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Jenkins
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Abramson
authors.forename: John L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Hopper
authors.forename: Shyamali C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Dharmage
mesh_terms: 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