The validity of self-reported prescription medication use among adolescents varied by therapeutic class.
OBJECTIVE
Validation studies of self-reported medication use in adolescents have been scarce. The objective of this study was to estimate the sensitivity and specificity of self-reported use of medication using a prescription database as reference standard.


METHODS
The study population consisted of a cohort of 2,613 adolescents aged 15-16 years from the Norwegian youth health survey in 2004 and 2005. Self-reported data on medication use were compared with data from the Norwegian Prescription Database which contains information from all prescription dispensed at Norwegian pharmacies.


RESULTS
Sensitivity for self-reported questions on medication use was highest for contraceptive pills 99.2% (95% CI 97.7-100) compared to antiasthmatics 79.1% (66.9-91.2), painkillers 48.5% (36.7-60.4), and psychotropic drugs 75.0% (35.6-95.6). Specificity values of self-reported information of psychotropic drugs 89.6% (87.8-91.5) and antiasthmatics 87.4% (85.4-89.5) were higher than for painkillers 80.0% (77.5-82.4) and contraceptive pills 76.2% (72.3-80.1).


CONCLUSIONS
Validity of self-reported previous medication use among adolescents differed by the therapeutic classes of medication. The highest sensitivity was observed for contraceptive pills and lowest for prescribed painkillers.
Skurtveit
Svetlana
S
Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Division of Epidemiology, P.O. Box 4404 Nydalen, N-0403 Oslo, Norway. svetlana.skurtveit@fhi.no
Selmer
Randi
R
Tverdal
Aage
A
Furu
Kari
K
D000293:Adolescent; D000700:Analgesics / Q000008:administration & dosage; D018927:Anti-Asthmatic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage; D003276:Contraceptives, Oral / Q000008:administration & dosage; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods*; D016208:Databases, Factual; D011307:Drug Prescriptions; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009664:Norway; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000008:administration & dosage; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D000700:Analgesics; D018927:Anti-Asthmatic Agents; D003276:Contraceptives, Oral; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs