title: Medical record validation of maternal recall of pregnancy and birth events from a twin cohort.
abstract: This study aims to assess the validity of maternal recall for several perinatal variables 8-10 years after pregnancy in a twin sample. Retrospective information was collected 8-10 years after the delivery event in a cohort of mothers from the University of Southern California Twin Study (N = 611) and compared with medical records for validity analysis. Recall of most variables showed substantial to perfect agreement (κ = 0.60-1.00), with notable exceptions for specific medical problems during pregnancy (κ ≤ 0.40) and substance use when mothers provided continuous data (e.g., number of cigarettes per day; r ≤ 0.24). With the exception of delivery method, neonatal intensive care unit admission, birth weight, neonatal information, and post-delivery complications were also recalled with low accuracy. For mothers of twins, maternal recall is generally a valid measure for perinatal variables 10 years after pregnancy. However, caution should be taken regarding variables such as substance use, medical problems, birth length, and post-delivery complications.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA. jhliu@nursing.upenn.edu
authors.forename: Jianghong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tuvblad
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Adrian
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Raine
authors.forename: Laura A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Baker
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008499:Medical Records; D011939:Mental Recall; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications; D059285:Pregnancy, Twin; D017584:Reproductive History; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014427:Twins; D054928:Validation Studies as Topic