An assessment of the validity of reporting by proxy to women's health questionnaire: a pilot study.
OBJECTIVE
The quality of proxy reports provided by husbands regarding women's health, when the index case (the wife) cannot be interviewed, is controversial.


METHODS
Fourteen husbands and wives at menopause were interviewed separately using the same pre-constructed questionnaire. The extent of agreement between their reports was assessed.


RESULTS
Higher agreement was noted for questions regarding physiognomy, number of live children, age at menopause and general health problems. Lesser agreement was observed regarding obstetric history.


CONCLUSIONS
In light of these preliminary observations, the use of husbands as proxy for women's health questionnaire at midlife should be carefully considered and may be limited to questions regarding general health issues rather than reproductive health.
Lerner-Geva
Liat
L
Women and Children's Health Research Unit, Gertner Institute for Epidemiology and Health Policy Research, Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel. liatl@gertner.health.gov.il
Frenkel
Yair
Y
Lusky
Ayala
A
Farhi
Adel
A
Rabinovici
Jaron
J
D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008487:Medical History Taking / Q000379:methods*; D008593:Menopause; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D019727:Proxy; D012107:Research Design; D018454:Spouses; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires