title: Evaluating reporting heterogeneity in self-rated health among adults aged 50 years and above in India: an anchoring vignettes analytic approach.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To use anchoring vignettes to evaluate reporting heterogeneity (RH) in self-rated mobility and cognition in older adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analyzed vignettes and self-rated mobility and cognition in 2,558 individuals aged 50 years and above. We tested for assumptions of vignette equivalence (VE) and response consistency (RC). We used a joint hierarchical ordered probit (HOPIT) model to evaluate self-rating responses for RH.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The assumption of VE was met except for "learning" vignettes. Higher socioeconomic status (SES) and education significantly lowered thresholds for cognition ratings. After correction for RH, women, lower SES, and older respondents were significantly more likely to report greater difficulty in mobility. The influence of age, SES, and education on thresholds was less apparent for cognition.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study provides strong evidence of RH in self-rated mobility and cognition. We highlight the need to formally test basic assumptions before using vignettes to adjust self-rating responses for RH.
authors.affiliation: KEM Hospital Research Centre, Pune, India Umeå University, Sweden sidbela@vsnl.com.
authors.forename: Siddhivinayak
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hirve
authors.affiliation: World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Emese
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Verdes
authors.affiliation: KEM Hospital Research Centre, Pune, India.
authors.forename: Pallavi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lele
authors.affiliation: KEM Hospital Research Centre, Pune, India.
authors.forename: Sanjay
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Juvekar
authors.affiliation: Umeå University, Sweden.
authors.forename: Yulia
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Blomstedt
authors.affiliation: University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
authors.forename: Steve
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tollman
authors.affiliation: Umeå University, Sweden.
authors.forename: Stig
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wall
authors.affiliation: World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Somnath
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chatterji
authors.affiliation: Umeå University, Sweden.
authors.forename: Nawi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ng
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D059026:Diagnostic Self Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
keywords: India; anchoring vignettes; cognition; differential item functioning; mobility; reporting heterogeneity; self-rating