Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Stony Brook University, NY 11794-8790, USA.
J Psychosom Res. 2013 Aug;75(2):160-6. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2013.06.006. Epub 2013 Jul 6.
Patient-reported outcome measures with reporting periods of a week or more are often used to evaluate the change of symptoms over time, but the accuracy of recall in the context of change is not well understood. This study examined whether temporal trends in symptoms that occur during the reporting period impact the accuracy of 7-day recall reports.
Women with premenstrual symptoms (n=95) completed daily reports of anger, depression, fatigue, and pain intensity for 4weeks, as well as 7-day recall reports at the end of each week. Latent class growth analysis was used to categorize recall periods based on the direction and rate of change in the daily reports. Agreement (level differences and correlations) between 7-day recall and aggregated daily scores was compared for recall periods with different temporal trends.
Recall periods with positive, negative, and flat temporal trends were identified and they varied in accordance with weeks of the menstrual cycle. Replicating previous research, 7-day recall scores were consistently higher than aggregated daily scores, but this level difference was more pronounced for recall periods involving positive and negative trends compared with flat trends. Moreover, correlations between 7-day recall and aggregated daily scores were lower in the presence of positive and negative trends compared with flat trends. These findings were largely consistent for anger, depression, fatigue, and pain intensity.
Temporal trends in symptoms can influence the accuracy of recall reports and this should be considered in research designs involving change.
具有一周或更长报告期的患者报告结局测量通常用于评估随时间推移的症状变化，但变化背景下回忆的准确性尚不清楚。本研究考察了在报告期内发生的症状的时间趋势是否会影响 7 天回顾报告的准确性。
有经前症状的女性（n=95）完成了为期 4 周的愤怒、抑郁、疲劳和疼痛强度的每日报告，以及每周结束时的 7 天回顾报告。潜在类别增长分析用于根据日常报告的变化方向和速度对回顾期进行分类。对于具有不同时间趋势的回顾期，比较 7 天回顾和综合每日评分之间的一致性（水平差异和相关性）。
确定了具有正、负和稳定时间趋势的回顾期，并且它们根据月经周期的周数而变化。与之前的研究一致，7 天回顾评分始终高于综合每日评分，但与稳定趋势相比，涉及正、负趋势的回顾期的差异更为明显。此外，与稳定趋势相比，7 天回顾与综合每日评分之间的相关性在存在正、负趋势时较低。愤怒、抑郁、疲劳和疼痛强度的结果基本一致。
症状的时间趋势会影响回忆报告的准确性，在涉及变化的研究设计中应考虑这一点。
