Burns T L, Moll P P, Rost C A, Lauer R M
Department of Preventive Medicine and Environmental Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City.
Int J Epidemiol. 1987 Dec;16(4):550-5. doi: 10.1093/ije/16.4.550.
The mothers of 127 adolescents living in Muscatine, Iowa were asked at the time of a clinic examination to recall their child's birthweight in pounds and ounces. For comparison, the hospital-recorded birthweight was obtained for each child. On the average, mothers underreported their child's birthweight by 1.3 oz. Sixty of 127 (47%) mother-reported birthweights were the same as those from hospital delivery records; 12% of the mothers overreported the birthweight by at least 5 oz and 17% underreported by at least that amount. The age of the mother and number of biological children were related to the ability to recall the birthweight exactly. The mean age of the children, and thus the average length of the mother's recall, was 16.1 years. Neither the length of recall, nor the mother's education, her current body size, or the current body size of the child were related to recall ability. However, mothers who overreported their child's birthweight were significantly shorter and lighter and their children tended to be taller and heavier, when compared to the mothers who underreported and their children. When the degree of agreement found in our study between reported and recorded birthweight exists, the effect of using reported rather than recorded birthweights in an epidemiological investigation is sufficiently small to allow inferences to be made regarding the relationship between birthweight and body size at mid-adolescence.
爱荷华州马斯卡廷市的127名青少年的母亲在诊所检查时被要求回忆她们孩子出生时的体重（磅和盎司）。为作比较，获取了每个孩子医院记录的出生体重。平均而言，母亲们少报了孩子1.3盎司的出生体重。127名母亲报告的出生体重中有60例（47%）与医院分娩记录中的相同；12%的母亲多报了至少5盎司的出生体重，17%的母亲少报了至少那么多。母亲的年龄和亲生子女数量与准确回忆出生体重的能力有关。孩子的平均年龄，也就是母亲回忆的平均时长，为16.1岁。回忆时长、母亲的教育程度、她目前的体型或孩子目前的体型均与回忆能力无关。然而，与少报孩子出生体重的母亲及其孩子相比，多报孩子出生体重的母亲明显更矮更轻，而她们的孩子往往更高更重。当我们研究中报告的出生体重与记录的出生体重之间存在一致程度时，在流行病学调查中使用报告的而非记录的出生体重所产生的影响足够小，从而可以就出生体重与青春期中期体型之间的关系进行推断。
