A validation study on status and age of natural menopause reported in the E3N cohort

The accuracy of self-reported menopausal status and age at menopause has been analysed in a validation study using the gynecologist's medical records as the reference. Concordance between the two sources for menopausal status was assessed in 151 women. The kappa coefficient obtained was 0.85 (95% CI, 0.69-1.00). Agreement on age at menopause was tested in 57 women and the kappa coefficient obtained was 0.64 (95% CI, 0.34-0.94). Age at menopause was accurately reported by 32% of the subjects. This percentage increased to 69 and 86% when agreement within 1 and 2 year(s) was considered, respectively. These results suggest that women can provide data on their natural menopause history with sufficient accuracy to test some hypotheses associating this event with the evolution of their health status. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.