title: Comparison of prospective daily diaries and retrospective recall to measure oral contraceptive adherence.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The purpose of this study was to determine if retrospective recall of oral contraceptive (OC) adherence provides data that are similar to data collected via daily diaries over the same time period. Factors associated with inconsistent agreement between prospective and retrospective measurements of adherence also were explored.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 185 women participated in a longitudinal, prospective cohort of OC users, and 113 of these women provided complete information on OC adherence during follow-ups. Concordance beyond chance was assessed using weighted kappa statistics, and logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with inconsistent reporting of adherence.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was substantial agreement between prospective and retrospective adherence information (weighted kappa=0.64; 95% CI: 0.52-0.77). Participants with a high school education or less and those who had problems with feeling sad while using OCs had increased odds of inconsistent reporting of adherence (OR=4.38, 95% CI: 1.41-13.61 and OR=3.52, 95% CI: 1.25-9.94, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  While prospective data collection via diaries may improve accuracy, the added expense and burden on study participants may not be necessary. However, the use of retrospective recall may not be appropriate for all study populations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Sciences, UNC Charlotte, Charlotte, NC 28223-001, USA. Electronic address: lrhuber@uncc.edu.
authors.forename: Larissa R Brunner
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Huber
authors.forename: Elizabeth C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Broel
authors.forename: Ashley N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Mitchelides
authors.forename: Jacek
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dmochowski
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dulin
authors.forename: Delia
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Scholes
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D035843:Biomedical Research; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003276:Contraceptives, Oral / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D004522:Educational Status; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D055991:Health Records, Personal; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D055118:Medication Adherence; D011939:Mental Recall; D009657:North Carolina; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012107:Research Design; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D003276:Contraceptives, Oral
keywords: Contraceptives; Measurement of adherence; Medication adherence; Oral; Reproducibility of results