Birdsong W H, Lash A A, Thayer S, Kumekawa E, Becker C E
Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco.
J Occup Med. 1992 Sep;34(9):940-5.
This study examined the validity of self-reported work histories for use in epidemiological studies of toxic exposures. Two uses that were examined were the assignment of subjects to exposure groups and the estimation of exposure duration. Questionnaire responses and data extracted from employment files were compared for 161 retired automobile workers. The questionnaire method assigned subjects to two extreme groups with 99% accuracy but rejected 30% of the subjects because of ambiguous data. Self-reports of exposure duration correlated moderately with the file estimates (r = .63, P = .01). The discrepancy between subjects' estimates and actual exposure duration correlated with subjects' job mobility. The findings indicate that the validity of self-report data declines with the precision required of the data, but that self-reports may have sufficient validity for studies that use extreme-group designs.
本研究检验了自我报告的工作经历在毒物暴露流行病学研究中的有效性。所检验的两种用途是将受试者分配到暴露组以及估计暴露持续时间。对161名退休汽车工人的问卷调查回复和从就业档案中提取的数据进行了比较。问卷调查方法以99%的准确率将受试者分配到两个极端组，但因数据不明确而拒绝了30%的受试者。暴露持续时间的自我报告与档案估计值中度相关（r = 0.63，P = 0.01）。受试者估计值与实际暴露持续时间之间的差异与受试者的工作流动性相关。研究结果表明，自我报告数据的有效性会随着数据所需精度的提高而下降，但自我报告对于采用极端组设计的研究可能具有足够的有效性。
