title: Validity of self-reported diabetes in health interview surveys for measuring social inequalities in the prevalence of diabetes.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To analyse the validity of diabetes declarations in a health interview survey in order to evaluate the appropriateness of using health interview surveys to understand the relationship between diabetes and social groups.
  
  
  METHODS
  People with self-reported diabetes are those who report to have diabetes in the health survey. People with diabetes (gold standard) are those who were identified with fasting blood glucose level ≥ 126 mg/dl or those who were treated with oral antidiabetic drugs or insulin. Independent variables were educational level, social class and gender. The authors calculated sensitivity, specificity and κ coefficient.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The majority of indicators for evaluating the adequacy of using health interviews surveys to analyse inequalities in self-reported diabetes by social groups are good. The worst indicator was sensitivity, although it did not vary according to social groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Health surveys are a good instrument to evaluate the social inequalities in the prevalence of diabetes.
authors.affiliation: Agència de Salut Pública de Barcelona, Plaça Lesseps 1, Barcelona 08023, Spain. aespelt@aspb.cat
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Espelt
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Goday
authors.forename: Josep
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Franch
authors.forename: Carme
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Borrell
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006306:Health Surveys / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D057566:Self Report / Q000592:standards*; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult