title: An assessment of the validity of reporting by proxy to women's health questionnaire: a pilot study.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: 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
authors.forename: Liat
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lerner-Geva
authors.forename: Yair
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Frenkel
authors.forename: Ayala
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lusky
authors.forename: Adel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Farhi
authors.forename: Jaron
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rabinovici
mesh_terms: 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