Lower agreement on behavioral factors than on medical conditions in self-reported data among pregnant Latina women

Background. Agreement between self-reported data and data obtained from medical records is far from perfect and few studies have analyzed the element of language when self-reported data are given in one language and this information is recorded in another language in the medical record. Our objective was to assess agreement between self-reported data and medical record data with regard to prenatal risk factors in pregnant Latina women. Methods. We interviewed 350 Latina women at greater than or equal to20 weeks' gestation regardingstation regarding alcohol use, tobacco use, use of prenatal vitamins, age, education, use of prenatal care, and medical conditions. Kappa statistic (kappa) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were used to calculate agreement between self-reported responses and medical record data. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate effect of maternal characteristics on likelihood of disagreement. Results. Agreement between self-reported and medical record data was generally lower for behavioral factors (alcohol kappa = 0.37 and prenatal vitamin use kappa = 0.09) than for medical conditions (anemia kappa = 0.63, gestational diabetes kappa = 0.83, and hypertension kappa = 0.68). In general. maternal characteristics did not significantly predict patterns of disagreement. Conclusions. Among pregnant Latina women, self-reported data on behavioral factors had lower agreement than self-reported data on medical conditions. Further study is needed to define the effect of other factors, such as social norms, on accuracy of self-reported data during pregnancy. (C) 2004 IMSS. Published by Elsevier Inc.