Good agreement between physician and self-reported hormone therapy data in a case–control study

• Published in: Journal of clinical epidemiology Vol. 60; no. 12; pp. 1280 - 1287
• Main Authors: Kropp, S, Terboven, T, Hedicke, J, Mutschelknauss, E, Slanger, T, Braendle, W, Berger, J, Chang-Claude, J, Flesch-Janys, D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 01.12.2007; Elsevier; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Age Factors; Aged; Agreements; Biological and medical sciences; Brand names; Breast cancer; Breast neoplasms; Breast Neoplasms - etiology; Case studies; Case-Control Studies; Consent; Correlation coefficient; Drug Administration Schedule; Drug Prescriptions - statistics & numerical data; Endocrine therapy; Epidemiology; Estrogen replacement therapy; Estrogen Replacement Therapy - adverse effects; Estrogen Replacement Therapy - methods; Estrogen Replacement Therapy - utilization; Estrogens; Female; General aspects; Health participants; Health risks; Hormone replacement therapy; Humans; Internal Medicine; Interviews; Medical sciences; Mental Recall; Middle Aged; Miscellaneous; Postmenopause; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Reproducibility of Results; Self Disclosure; Validation studies; Womens health; Canada; Sweden; United Kingdom > UK; Germany; Postmenopause; Case–control studies; Breast neoplasms; Hormone replacement therapy; Estrogen replacement therapy; Validation studies; Prescription; Replacement therapy; Hormone therapy; Self evaluation; Menopause; Breast tumor; Estrogen; Risk; Case control study; Epidemiology; Goal; Female; Population; Mammary gland; Woman; Public health; Human; Validation; Intraclass correlation coefficient; Health staff; Physician; Breast cancer; Malignant tumor; Mammary gland diseases; Risk factor; Author; Case-control studies; Cancer
• ISSN: 0895-4356; 1878-5921
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2007.02.013

Abstract Objective In a population-based case–control study examining the effects of postmenopausal hormone therapy (HT) on breast cancer risk, the authors conducted a validation study comparing prescription data from gynecologists with self-reports. Study Design and Setting The study was conducted in the Rhein-Neckar and Hamburg regions of Germany from 2002 to 2005. A total of 224 cases and 225 controls, stratified by region, age, and hormone use were randomly selected for the validation study. Results For ever/never use 88.2% agreement was seen, and agreement for ever/never use by type of HT was 80.6%, 80.3%, and 90.5% for mono-estrogen, cyclical combined, and continuous combined therapy, respectively. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for duration of use was high, 0.82 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.77, 0.85), as were the ICCs for age at first and last use, 0.88 (95% CI: 0.85, 0.91) and 0.98 (95% CI: 0.97, 0.98). Despite the exceptionally high number of different HT prescriptions available in Germany, comparison of exact brand name resulted in perfect agreement for 50.2% of participants, partial agreement for 29.3%, and no agreement for 20.7%. In general, agreement was not differential by disease status. Conclusion Overall, the self-reported HT of the study participants corresponded well with physicians' reports.