title: Concordance between self-reported and physician-reported chronic co-morbidity among disabled older adults.
abstract: Discordance between self-reports and medical records reflects patient and provider factors that have implications for management and research. This study investigated discordance and socio-demographic factors that explain concordance. A purposive sample of 402 disabled older persons was interviewed using a structured questionnaire. The highest concordances were found for diabetes, cardiovascular accident (CVA), and cancer while the lowest were evident for arthritis, and renal and gastrointestinal conditions. Significant explanatory factors included (a) age for explaining concordance in hypertension; (b) ethnicity in explaining concordance in arthritis and cancer; (c) marital status in explaining concordance in thyroid diseases; (d) education in explaining concordance in gastrointestinal conditions; and (e) functional status in explaining concordance in respiratory, gastrointestinal, and thyroid diseases. Co-morbidity increased concordance for all health conditions and decreased concordance for hypertension. Further investigation is needed to examine the reasons for the disparities between the two sources of information.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. iecovich@bgu.ac.il
authors.forename: Esther
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Iecovich
authors.forename: Aya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Biderman
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015897:Comorbidity; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004522:Educational Status; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D057566:Self Report / Q000592:standards*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires