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At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

PubMed1995

Measuring the functional status of patients with low back pain. Assessment of the quality of four disease-specific questionnaires.

STUDY DESIGN: This study was a literature review of the quality of four disease-specific functional status questionnaires for patients with low back pain: Oswestry; Million; Roland; and Waddell disability questionnaire. OBJECTIVES: The questionnaires were evaluated in terms of general description, scale structure, reliability, validity, responsiveness, and clinical research applications. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Functional status is an outcome of great interest for clinical trials of low back pain. METHODS: A computer-aided search was conducted of articles published between 1981 and 1993 and references given in selected relevant publications. Articles were selected if at least one of the four functional status questionnaires was used or if the authors gave relevant information about the methodology of these questionnaires. RESULTS: There was not enough information available about the criteria of item selection used for the development of the questionnaires. The test-retest reproducibility of the questionnaires seemed satisfactory. The Oswestry and Roland disability questionnaires have been used and evaluated more frequently than the Million and Waddell. Therefore, we can be more certain about the validity and responsiveness of the former pair of questionnaires. CONCLUSION: In the absence of a gold standard, direct comparisons of evaluative functional status questionnaires in a single patient group are needed. Through direct comparisons, comparative validity and responsiveness can be assessed. Functional status measures are not currently used in many settings in which they would be valuable. It is important to encourage their wider use in clinical trials. Additional research is needed to compare and improve the existing questionnaires.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed1994

Test-retest reliability of a questionnaire that identifies elders at risk for hospital admission.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the test-retest reliability of a questionnaire designed to measure elderly persons' probability of repeated admission (P(ra)) to a hospital within 4 years. DESIGN: Participants received the test questionnaire by mail; respondents to the test questionnaire received the retest questionnaire 3 weeks later. PARTICIPANTS: Elderly (65+) community-dwelling enrollees in the Medical Assistance (Medicaid) program of Ramsey County, MN (n = 192). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The correlation (r) between the P(ra) values computed from the test-retest correlations (k) of the questionnaire's individual items were also measured. RESULTS: The response rate was 63% (121/192) for the test questionnaire and 69% (84/121) for the retest questionnaire. The test and retest values of P(ra) computed from responses to the questionnaires were highly correlated (r = 0.78, P < 0.0001). For the individual questionnaire items, the range of k values was 0.50-1.00 (P < 0.0001 for all items). Slightly higher values of r and k were obtained when the respondents were women and when the same person (either proxy or self) completed both questionnaires. Age was not consistently related to reliability. CONCLUSION: the test-retest reliability of individual items and of the computed P(ra) was high, suggesting that responses by elderly persons to mailed questionnaires pertaining to health status are stable over brief periods of time. The resulting P(ra) values may be useful in identifying elders at high risk for hospital admission.

Age Factors↗

PubMed1995

Serology for Helicobacter pylori compared with symptom questionnaires in screening before direct access endoscopy.

This prospective study aimed to compare serology for Helicobacter pylori with two, symptom questionnaires in screening patients before direct access endoscopy. Methods were compared in terms of the number of endoscopies saved and pathology missed in 315 patients referred to a gastroenterology unit by 65 local GPs. The serology used was based on an acid glycine extract of H pylori. One in-house questionnaire was based on the Glasgow dyspepsia (GLADYS) system and the other questionnaire was that reported by Holdstock et al. A cut off point of 6.3 U/ml for H pylori serology was selected for screening patients (97% sensitive and 75% specific). Serology was combined with a history of NSAID usage in determining who should have endoscopy. For the in-house questionnaire, a cut off score of more than 8 out of a possible maximum of 18 was chosen, after prior evaluation in 118 patients referred for direct access endoscopy (the sensitivity for detection of peptic ulcer was 88%, specificity 61%). A cut off score of more than 412 was used for the Holdstock questionnaire. In patients under 45 years, serology detected more peptic ulcers than the in-house questionnaire and the Holdstock questionnaire (27/28 v 24/28, NS and v 20/28, p < 0.05 respectively). The Holdstock questionnaire saved significantly more endoscopies than the other two methods (76/149 v 57/149 for the in-house questionnaire, p = 0.05 and 59/149 for serology, p = 0.05). In all age groups combined, serology was significantly better than the in-house and Holdstock questionnaires at detecting peptic ulcers and gastric cancer (61/63, 52/63, p<0.02, and 50/63, p<0.01 respectively). But serology saved significantly fewer endoscopies (89/315, 135/315, p<0.005, and 119/315, p<0.05 respectively). Serology was inferior to the Holdstock questionnaire at detecting severe oesophagitis. It is concluded that serology is the method of choice in screening before direct access upper gastrointestinal endoscopy in those under 45 years. It best combines a high sensitivity for peptic ulcer disease with a large reduction in unnecessary negative endoscopies.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1996

Measuring function of the shoulder. A cross-sectional comparison of five questionnaires.

Measures of both generic and disease-specific health status are being developed and used with increasing frequency for the appraisal of musculoskeletal conditions. The purpose of this study was to compare prospectively the validity of five questionnaires in the assessment of function of the shoulder. Ninety subjects who had various problems related to the shoulder agreed to enter the study. All of the subjects completed a questionnaire package that included the Shoulder Pain and Disability Index, the Simple Shoulder Test, the Subjective Shoulder Rating Scale, the Modified American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons Shoulder Patient Self-Evaluation Form, and the Shoulder Severity Index as well as a measure of generic health status (the acute version of the Short Form 36 [SF-36]) and two questions that asked the patient to rate the severity of the problem and his or her over-all health. Frequency distributions were created and compared among questionnaires. Spearman rank correlations were calculated to compare the questionnaires with each other and with other assessments. One-way analysis of variance was used to determine the ability of the questionnaires to discriminate between self-rated severity of the problem and over-all health. The frequency distributions were similar among the five shoulder questionnaires, but those of the five shoulder questionnaires differed from that of the SF-36. The correlations were good (0.73 < or = r < or = 0.80) among all of the five shoulder questionnaires except the Subjective Shoulder Rating Scale; they were lower with the Subjective Shoulder Rating Scale and the physical function dimension of the SF-36 (0.12 < or = r < or = 0.60). The shoulder questionnaires discriminated between levels of severity (p < 0.0001) but not between levels of over-all health (0.10 < or = p < or = 0.86). In this concurrent comparison of measures of shoulder-specific outcome in the same subjects, the shoulder questionnaires performed similarly, both in describing function of the shoulder and in discriminating between levels of severity. The shoulder questionnaires performed differently than the SF-36, which confirms the need to use both disease-specific and generic health-status measures to evaluate patients who have a problem related to the shoulder.

Adult↗

PubMed1990

Assessing individual differences: effects of responding to prior questionnaires on the substantive and psychometric properties of self-esteem and depression assessments.

It has become a common practice among psychological researchers to administer batteries of individual difference assessments to research participants, although little is known about whether the substantive and psychometric integrity of the questionnaires are maintained when they are administered after the subject has completed other instruments. The studies presented here consider these issues in relation to the assessment of self-esteem and depression. In the first study, college students responded to a self-esteem inventory (a) by itself (control group), (b) after one prior questionnaire, (c) after three prior questionnaires, or (d) after five prior questionnaires. Results indicated that filling out one or more questionnaires before an assessment of self-esteem resulted in reports of lower self-esteem relative to the control condition. Additional analyses revealed that filling out three or five prior questionnaires created lower reliabilities of subscale scores and lower estimates of concurrent validity between self-esteem and depression. When the effect of prior questionnaires on the General Self-Esteem subscale was examined, the aforementioned results were replicated, and the prior questionnaire treatment created heterogeneous variances across the experimental groups. The second study was designed as a replication of the first study, using an assessment of depression as the target questionnaire. These results revealed that reports of depressive symptomatology increased as the number of prior questionnaires increased. Again, the prior questionnaire treatment created heterogeneity of variance between the groups, but did not adversely affect its internal consistency.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1998

Alcohol screening questionnaires in women: a critical review.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the performance of alcohol screening questionnaires in female patients. DATA SOURCES: We searched MEDLINE from 1966 to July 1997 for alcoholism or alcohol-drinking and for CAGE, AUDIT, BMAST, TWEAK, T-ACE, MAST, SMAST, or SAAST; Citations Indexes for newer screening questionnaires and those without acronyms; and MEDLINE from 1996 to July 1997 for alcoholism or alcohol-drinking and screening. STUDY SELECTION AND DATA EXTRACTION: Reviewed studies presented data for women comparing brief alcohol screening questionnaires with valid criterion standards for heavy drinking (> or =2 drinks per day) or alcohol abuse or dependence in US general clinical populations. Sensitivities, specificities, and areas under receiver operating characteristic curves (AUROCs) were extracted. DATA SYNTHESIS: Thirteen articles (9 studies) were reviewed. The CAGE questionnaire had AUROCs of 0.84 to 0.92 for alcohol abuse and dependence in predominantly black populations of women, but using the traditional cut point of 2 or more resulted in low sensitivities (38%-50%) in predominantly white female populations. The TWEAK and Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) questionnaires had high AUROCs (0.87-0.93) for past-year alcohol abuse or dependence in black or white women, but had sensitivities less than 80% at traditional cut points. For detecting heavy drinking, the AUDIT questionnaire had AUROCs of at least 0.87 in female primary care patients. The TWEAK and T-ACE questionnaires had higher AUROCs (0.84-0.87) than the CAGE questionnaire (0.76-0.78) for detecting heavy drinking before pregnancy was recognized in black obstetric patients. CONCLUSIONS: The CAGE questionnaire was relatively insensitive in predominantly white female populations. The TWEAK and AUDIT questionnaires have performed adequately in black or white women, using lower cut points than usual.

Adult↗

PubMed1996

The usefulness of a prenatal genetic questionnaire in genetic risk assessment.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate a prenatal questionnaire as a genetic screen and as an aid in pre-amniocentesis genetic risk assessment. METHODS: In a retrospective cohort study, charts were reviewed for 158 consecutive women of advanced maternal age referred for genetic counseling. Genetic risks identified by use of a questionnaire completed by 79 consecutive patients were compared with those risks identified by the referring physician, those identified during subsequent three-generation pedigree analysis, and to genetic risks identified by pedigree evaluation of 79 consecutive individuals who underwent genetic counseling without the aid of a questionnaire (controls). RESULTS: Sixteen (20%) of the questionnaires revealed a previously unidentified genetic risk. The sensitivity and specificity of the questionnaire were determined to be 40.0 and 97.4%, respectively. Pedigree analysis alone (control group) identified significantly more at-risk pedigrees than did the questionnaire alone (34 versus 20%, P < .05), but identified significantly fewer at-risk pedigrees than obtained from the study group patients who completed a questionnaire and pedigree evaluation (34 versus 50.6%, P < .05). Of all 158 patients, 15.2% (n = 24) underwent additional testing on the basis of genetic risk assessment. There was no difference between the study and control groups in additional evaluations performed (P = 1.0). CONCLUSION: A three-generation pedigree is superior to a questionnaire in genetic risk assessment. The questionnaire was not sufficiently sensitive to serve independently as an adequate genetic screen or risk assessment tool and did not influence subsequent fetal evaluation. Assessment of the sensitivity and specificity of prenatal genetic questionnaires should be undertaken before their routine clinical use.

Adult↗

PubMed1995

Development and validation of the Curtin Back Screening Questionnaire (CBSQ): a discriminative disability measure.

Disability accompanying occupational low back pain (LBP) can include a wide range of incapacitating symptoms which, for the practitioner, can be time-consuming and difficult to identify systematically. A questionnaire designed for case-finding and assessment could assist in both the early recognition of disability and in planning management. A suitable questionnaire for clinical use could not be found in the literature. The Curtin Back Screening Questionnaire (CBSQ) was developed, therefore, as a discriminative screening instrument to serve this purpose. The methods and results of the development and validation of the CBSQ are presented herein. Development of the questionnaire followed the principles of Kirschner and Guyatt (1985) employing data from 74 subjects with at least moderately severe work-related LBP. The research design for the validation was multiple-group repeated-measures with a study population of 150 subjects. The screening function of the questionnaire was developed through selecting 8 questions from the whole questionnaire using regression analysis. The questionnaire includes 79 items based on the subjects' perceived health status. The response structure of the CBSQ has been adapted from that of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and some items in the CBSQ have been developed from items in the Sickness Impact Profile (SIP) and GHQ. The questionnaire discriminates effectively between subjects with different degrees of disability, it correlates quite well with the SIP, test-retest reliability for the whole questionnaire is 0.98, the receiver-operating characteristics are more favourable than those for the SIP, and the CBSQ screening score provides an index of severity which correlates with work incapacity.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗

PubMed1997

Relative validity and reproducibility of a food frequency dietary questionnaire for use in the Italian EPIC centres.

A pilot questionnaire was developed for the EPIC centres of northern Italy, and validated in the feasibility part of the cohort project. The questionnaire was self-administered and of the food frequency type with portion size estimated by means of pictures. It was structured by courses within a meal characteristic of Italian dietary habits. Dietary intake estimated by the questionnaire was compared to the corresponding estimates obtained from 8-14 24-hour recall interviews administered over a 1-year period. The reference method was validated by means of urinary nitrogen in 4-6 repeated 24-hour urine collections. One hundred and ninety-seven volunteers (47 men and 150 women) were enrolled and completed the study lasting 1 year. They filled out two questionnaires at the beginning and at the end of the study, and had a 24-hour recall interview once a month. Twenty-four-hour urine samples were collected at regular intervals. Usual intake of energy, the major nutrients and some vitamins were estimated for the questionnaires and the reference method by means of food composition tables compiled for this study. The agreement between the questionnaire and the 24-hour recalls was only good for alcohol consumption: Pearson's correlation was 0.73 and 0.77 in men and women respectively. Otherwise the relative validity of the questionnaire ranged between 0.28 for fat to 0.52 for carbohydrates in men and 0.25 and 0.50 in women for the same nutrients. The validity of the two interview methods in estimating protein intake, compared to mean urinary nitrogen was 0.24 (M) and 0.18 (W) for the questionnaire and 0.63 (M) and 0.48 (W) for 24-hour recalls. The main causes of low performance of the questionnaire were identified to be the estimated intake of dressing and cooking fats, vegetables and meat. Remedies were devised and introduced in the final version of the questionnaire currently in use in the EPIC project.

Cohort Studies↗

PubMed1996

Repeatability and relative validity of two physical activity questionnaires in elderly women.

In a population of 33 women aged 51-71 yr, two physical activity questionnaires (a modified Baecke questionnaire and the pre-EPIC questionnaire) were tested for repeatability (5 and 11 months). For assessment of relative validity, the questionnaires were compared with a physical activity diary (12 d) as the main reference method, a single 24-h Caltrac accelerometer score, and energy intake estimated from a 24-h dietary recall repeated 12 times. Repeatability of the questionnaires at 5 months was 0.82 (Baecke) and 0.42 (pre-EPIC), at 11 months 0.73 and 0.60, respectively. Correlation with the activity diary was 0.51 for the Baecke and 0.64 for the pre-EPIC questionnaire. Correlation with the Caltrac was 0.22 for both questionnaires, and with energy intake -0.21 and 0.43, respectively. Factor analysis suggested that the questionnaires and the diary measured a common aspect of activity, which could be interpreted as "reported normal physical activity." Women who reported sweating or breathlessness during the past week scored significantly higher only on the Baecke questionnaire. It was concluded that the two questionnaires seemed to be able to rank older women according to physical activity in epidemiological studies.

Aged↗

PubMed1995

Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire: cross-cultural adaptation and further validation.

OBJECTIVES: The Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (IBDQ) is a disease-specific quality of life instrument. We translated and adapted the questionnaire and tested its reliability and (cross-cultural) validity. METHODS: We surveyed 271 patients with inflammatory bowel disease. The inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire and its dimensional scores (bowel, systemic, social and emotional) were correlated with disease activity, health care use, medication and three other indices of quality of life. RESULTS: The reliability coefficient of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire was high (0.93). Patients with higher disease activity had significantly lower quality of life on all Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire dimensions (P < 0.001). Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire scores were significantly correlated with health care use (P < 0.01) but not with medication. Almost all Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire dimensions correlated highly (0.43-0.79, P < 0.001) with the corresponding scales of the standard quality of life indices, except for the bowel dimension. Modified Dutch Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire scores were consistent with Canadian Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire norms. CONCLUSIONS: These results support the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire as a reliable and valid measure of the quality of life of inflammatory bowel disease patients in multicultural research settings.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1998

Screening for hypercholesterolaemia in primary care: randomised controlled trial of postal questionnaire appraising risk of coronary heart disease.

OBJECTIVES: To validate a self administered postal questionnaire appraising risk of coronary heart disease. To determine whether use of this questionnaire increased the percentage of people at high risk of coronary heart disease and decreased the percentage of people at low risk who had their cholesterol concentration measured. DESIGN: Validation was by review of medical records and clinical assessment. The questionnaire appraising risk of coronary heart disease encouraged those meeting criteria for cholesterol measurement to have a cholesterol test and was tested in a randomised controlled trial. The intervention group was sent the risk appraisal questionnaire with a health questionnaire that determined risk of coronary heart disease without identifying the risk factors as related to coronary heart disease; the control group was sent the health questionnaire alone. SETTING: One capitation funded primary care practice in Canada with an enrolled patient population of about 12 000. SUBJECTS: Random sample of 100 participants in the intervention and control groups were included in the validation exercise. 5686 contactable patients aged 20 to 69 years who on the basis of practice records had not had a cholesterol test performed during the preceding 5 years were included in the randomised controlled trial. 2837 were in the intervention group and 2849 were in the control group. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Sensitivity and specificity of assessment of risk of coronary heart disease with risk appraisal questionnaire. Rate of cholesterol testing during three months of follow up. RESULTS: Sensitivity of questionnaire appraising coronary risk was 87.5% (95% confidence interval 73.2% to 95.8%) and specificity 91.7% (81.6% to 97.2%). Of the patients without pre-existing coronary heart disease who met predefined screening criteria based on risk, 45 out of 421 in the intervention group (10.7%) and 9 out of 504 in the control group (1.8%) had a cholesterol test performed during follow up (P<0.0001). Of the patients without a history of coronary heart disease who did not meet criteria for cholesterol testing, 30 out of 1128 in the intervention group (2.7%) and 18 out of 1099 in the control group (1.6%) had a cholesterol test (P=0.175). Of the patients with pre-existing coronary heart disease, 1 out of 15 in the intervention group (6.7%) and 1 out of 23 in the control group (4.3%) were tested during follow up (P=0.851, one tailed Fisher's exact test). CONCLUSIONS: Although the questionnaire appraising coronary risk increased the percentage of people at high risk who obtained cholesterol testing, the effect was small. Most patients at risk who received the questionnaire did not respond by having a test.

Adult↗

PubMed1998

Effect on attendance at breast cancer screening of adding a self administered questionnaire to the usual invitation to breast screening in southern England.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: The primary aim of the research described in this paper was to ascertain whether inclusion of a self administered questionnaire with the usual invitation to routine breast screening affected screening uptake. Secondary aims included establishing appropriate questionnaire distribution and collection methods within the framework of the National Health Service Breast Screening Programme and optimisation of questionnaire design. DESIGN: Randomised study. SETTING: Oxfordshire and West of London Breast Screening Units. PARTICIPANTS/METHODS: 6400 women invited for routine screening mammography were individually randomised to receive either the usual breast screening invitation alone, or to receive the usual invitation accompanied by a self administered questionnaire, to be returned at the time of screening. Participants were then followed up and attendance rates at screening were compared between groups. MAIN RESULTS: Screening attendance rates were similar in women who did and did not receive a questionnaire (71% in each group). Of those who were sent a questionnaire and attended for screening, 77% returned a completed questionnaire. Screening uptake was not affected by the way in which the questionnaire was returned or by whether or not personal details and signed permission for follow up were requested. CONCLUSIONS: The inclusion of a self administered questionnaire accompanying the invitation to breast screening did not adversely affect screening uptake. A high proportion of women completed the questionnaire.

Breast Neoplasms↗

PubMed1997

Performance of an NIDDM screening questionnaire based on symptoms and risk factors.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate to what extent a short questionnaire on symptoms and risk factors can be used to identify people at increased risk for undiagnosed NIDDM. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: A general population sample of 2,364 Caucasian subjects, age 50-74 years, not known to have diabetes, completed a questionnaire on diabetes-related symptoms and risk factors. Subsequently, they underwent an oral glucose tolerance test. A backward stepwise multiple logistic regression was carried out with the absence or presence of newly detected diabetes as the dependent variable and the items from the questionnaire as the independent variables. The selected items were included in a new symptom risk questionnaire, which was evaluated in a different population sample of 786 subjects, age 45-74 years, not known to have diabetes and compared with existing questionnaires. RESULTS: The newly developed symptom-risk questionnaire contains questions concerning the following items, which were independently and significantly (P < 0.05) associated with the presence of previously undiagnosed diabetes: pain during walking with need to slow down, shortness of breath when walking with people of the same age, frequent thirst, age, sex, obesity, parent or sibling with diabetes, use of antihypertensive drugs, and reluctance to use a bicycle for transportation. The 1993 American Diabetes Association questionnaire, the 1995 Herman et aL (17) questionnaire, and the newly developed symptom-risk questionnaire had sensitivities of 59, 72, and 72%; specificities of 57, 55, and 56%; positive predictive values of 5.6, 6.4, and 6.5%; and negative predictive values of 97, 98, and 98%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The newly developed symptom-risk questionnaire has good performance characteristics, and the advantage of a variable cutoff makes it a useful screening tool for NIDDM in general practice.

Aged↗

PubMed1998

Assessment of the reliability, validity, and responsiveness of a Spanish Asthma Quality of Life questionnaire.

A Spanish-language questionnaire designed for measuring the impact of asthma on quality of life in adults was developed. It was derived, by the application of a rigorous translation protocol, from a previously validated, English-language Asthma Quality of Life (AQL) questionnaire which had been developed in Australia. The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Spanish AQL questionnaire using a cross-sectional and longitudinal design. Two hundred ninety-four clinically stable subjects with asthma (168 women, mean baseline forced expiratory volume in 1 sec [FEV1] = 85% predicted), aged 17-70, attended for the initial baseline assessment. All subjects completed the AQL questionnaire and a full history and physical examination were performed. The clinical assessment of severity was based on the classification recommended by the Global Initiative on Asthma (GINA). One week after the initial assessment subjects completed the AQL questionnaire for a second time. Six months later, subjects were assessed clinically and completed all the assessment measures at baseline. Principal components analysis of the AQL questionnaire responses at the baseline visit revealed a structure that was almost identical to that seen in the original English-language questionnaire. The questionnaire was shown to be internally consistent (Cronbach's alpha 0.91 for total score and 0.80-0.86 for the four subscales) and repeatable (intraclass correlation coefficient 0.91 for the total scale and 0.78-0.92 for the subscales). The finding of expected strong correlations with the subject's global assessment of severity (p = 0.70) and dyspnea (p = 0.63), a weak inverse correlation with FEV1 (p = -0.17), and good discrimination among the four GINA severity categories (F3,291 = 37.16, p < 0.0001) supports the construct validity of the questionnaire. AQL scores increased with age (p = 0.31) and were higher in women (p < 0.005). The AQL was responsive to both improvement (mean change 1.02, p < 0.0001) and deterioration (mean change -1.13, p < 0.001) in the severity of asthma over a 6-month period. This disease-specific, Spanish-language AQL questionnaire was shown to have sound psychometric properties which make it suitable for use in cross-sectional or longitudinal studies where it is appropriate to assess the impact of asthma on the quality of life of individual patients.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1998

Comparison of responses to an asthma symptom questionnaire (ISAAC core questions) completed by adolescents and their parents. SCARPOL-Team. Swiss Study on Childhood Allergy and Respiratory Symptoms with respect to Air Pollution.

The primary objective of the study was to determine the impact of the identity of the respondent (parents versus adolescents) on prevalence estimates of asthma symptoms in Swiss adolescents. In addition, factors influencing agreement between parents' and adolescents' responses to the same questions were analysed. One thousand three hundred and seventy-four (78.4%) adolescents, aged 14 years, self-completed a questionnaire at school based on the International Study of Asthma and Allergy in Childhood (ISAAC) core questions on wheezing and asthma. The same questions were incorporated into a questionnaire to be completed by the parents at home. The adolescents' self-reported prevalence rates of current asthma symptoms and "asthma ever" were significantly higher than those obtained from the parental questionnaires. 856 (62.6%) parental questionnaires were filled in by parents without the help of the adolescents, 460 (37.4%) were completed by parents and adolescents and 51 (3.7%) were completed by the adolescents without the parents. Prevalence rates were higher when parents and adolescents completed the questionnaire jointly than when questionnaires were completed by parents alone. The level of agreement between parental and self-completed questionnaires was moderate to low (kappa coefficients 0.22-0.68). Agreement between parental and adolescents reports of asthma symptoms was best when questionnaires were completed jointly by parents and adolescents, when the adolescent was a girl, when a family history of asthma was recorded, when the adolescent was a non-smoker, and when the parental education was high. We conclude that the higher reporting of prevalence rates of current asthma symptoms by adolescents compared to reporting by their parents demonstrates the need to take the respondent to a questionnaire into account when comparisons are made between prevalence studies. The results also suggest that factors related to the family milieu influence symptom reporting.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1994

[Development and validation of a semi-quantitative food questionnaire based on a population survey].

An auto-administered, semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire was developed to assess evolution of dietary habits in the Geneva population. For this purpose 626 adults, aged 35 years or more and residents of Canton Geneva, were interviewed using a 24 hour recall technique. The questionnaire comprises the 80 food items or homogeneous food groups contributing to more than 90% of the intake in calories, proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, alcohol, cholesterol, calcium, vitamin D and retinol, and to more than 85% of dietary fibers, carotene and iron. To complete the food frequency questionnaire, participants indicate for each of the 80 food items or groups their frequency of consumption and whether their usual portion is equivalent to a reference portion listed in the questionnaire (median portion in the sample), smaller (first quartile of the portion distribution in the sample) or larger (third quartile of the portion distribution in the sample). The questionnaire can be filled in about 20 minutes. To test the new questionnaire we submitted it to a sample of 27 men and 29 women randomly selected from the 626 subjects who participated to the original survey. Mean intakes obtained using the food frequency questionnaire agree well with those obtained using the 24 hour recall for all subgroups defined by age, sex or nationality. The food frequency questionnaire tends to slightly underestimate the absolute intakes of alcohol, fibers and calcium since it is based on a subsample of all food items consumed according to the 24 hour recall interviews. These results suggest that the semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire is a good alternative to 24 hour recalls to assess mean nutrient intakes in the adult population of Canton Geneva.

Adult↗

PubMed1991

Reliability of questionnaire responses as compared with interview in the elderly: views of the outcome of transurethral resection of the prostate.

Three hundred and eighty-eight men undergoing transurethral resection of the prostate for benign prostatic hypertrophy completed a presurgical questionnaire and three follow-up questionnaires 3, 6 and 12 months after surgery. The questionnaires covered details of prostatic symptoms, general health, and expectations and results of surgery. At each follow-up point 40 randomly selected patients were interviewed by two female research assistants. The response rate to the questionnaires was over 90% at each follow-up point while that for the interviews was lower at around 80%. We examine the reliability of the postal questionnaires in assessing health status by comparing questionnaire and interview responses, with a view to the wider employment of such a method in the follow-up of surgical patients. In general, and as reported elsewhere, responses to questions on easily defined topics are highly comparable between questionnaire and interview. Responses to more subjective questions are moderately reliable, but with a tendency for postal questionnaires to underestimate a patient's health problems. It is difficult to assess the reliability of the questionnaires with regard to questions of an intimate nature since such questions caused embarrassment during interview with consequent incomplete responses.

Adult↗