Validity of age at menarche self-reported in adulthood

Objective: To test the validity of age at menarche self-reported in adulthood and examine whether socioeconomic position, education, experience of gynaecological events and psychological symptoms influence the accuracy of recall. Design: Prospective birth cohort study. Setting: England, Scotland and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of epidemiology and community health (1979) 2006-11, Vol.60 (11), p.993-997
Main Authors: Cooper, R, Blell, M, Hardy, R, Black, S, Pollard, T M, Wadsworth, M E J, Pearce, M S, Kuh, D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abortion, Spontaneous
Accuracy
Adolescent
Age
Age Factors
Agreements
Bias
Biological and medical sciences
Child development
Data collection
Educational attainment
Educational Status
Female
Females
General aspects
Health Surveys
Humans
Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development
Medical sciences
Menarche
Mental Disorders - psychology
Mental Recall
Middle age
Middle Aged
Miscellaneous
MRC NSHD
Prospective Studies
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Qualifications
Reproducibility of Results
Social Class
Social classes
Stillbirth
Studies
Theory and Methods
Validity
Womens health
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Summary:Objective: To test the validity of age at menarche self-reported in adulthood and examine whether socioeconomic position, education, experience of gynaecological events and psychological symptoms influence the accuracy of recall. Design: Prospective birth cohort study. Setting: England, Scotland and Wales. Participants: 1050 women from the Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development, with two measures of age at menarche, one recorded in adolescence and the other self-reported at age 48 years. Results: By calculating the limits of agreement, κ statistic and Pearson’s correlation coefficients (r), we found that the validity of age at menarche self-reported in middle age compared with that recorded in adolescence was moderate (κ = 0.35, r = 0.66, n = 1050). Validity was improved by categorising age at menarche into three groups: early, normal and late (κ = 0.43). Agreement was influenced by educational level and having had a stillbirth or miscarriage. Conclusions: The level of validity shown in this study throws some doubt on whether it is justifiable to use age at menarche self-reported in middle age. It is likely to introduce error and bias, and researchers should be aware of these limitations and use such measures with caution.
ISSN:0143-005X
1470-2738
DOI:10.1136/jech.2005.043182