Decouflé P, Holmgreen P, Calle E E, Weeks M F
Center for Environmental Health and Injury Control, Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, GA 30333.
Am J Epidemiol. 1991 Jan;133(1):83-95. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a115806.
Characteristics of nonrespondents, respondents who were easy to locate, and respondents who were hard to locate were examined with the use of data from a telephone health survey of male, US Army, Vietnam-era veterans. Of 17,867 eligible men discharged from active military duty in the late 1960s and early 1970s, 15,288 (86%) were successfully located and interviewed during 1985-1986. Veterans who could not be located were more likely than respondents to possess baseline characteristics predictive of increased mortality. In contrast, subjects who were located but refused to be interviewed were similar to respondents. Among veterans who were interviewed, those who were hardest to locate had the highest prevalence of known risk factors for diminished health status and reported many health problems with higher relative frequencies than respondents who were easier to locate. Odds ratios comparing the prevalence of each of 11 health outcomes in men who had served in Vietnam with that in men who had served elsewhere did not vary appreciably by intensity of follow-up. In particular, the subgroup of respondents that was located and interviewed within 2 weeks of initiation of follow-up (comprising 25% of all respondents) produced odds ratios for 10 of the 11 outcomes that were not appreciably different from odds ratios based on all respondents.
利用对美国陆军越战时期男性退伍军人进行的电话健康调查数据，对无回应者、易于找到的回应者以及难以找到的回应者的特征进行了研究。在20世纪60年代末和70年代初从现役部队退伍的17867名符合条件的男性中，15288人（86%）在1985 - 1986年期间被成功找到并接受了访谈。无法找到的退伍军人比回应者更有可能具备预示死亡率增加的基线特征。相比之下，那些被找到但拒绝接受访谈的受试者与回应者相似。在接受访谈的退伍军人中，最难找到的那些人已知健康状况下降风险因素的患病率最高，并且报告的许多健康问题的相对频率高于较容易找到的回应者。比较在越南服役的男性与在其他地方服役的男性中11种健康结果各自患病率的优势比，并未因随访强度而有明显差异。特别是，在随访开始后2周内被找到并接受访谈的回应者亚组（占所有回应者的25%）得出的11种结果中有10种的优势比与基于所有回应者得出的优势比没有明显差异。
