Recall of drug utilization depends on subtle structural questionnaire characteristics

Lunet, Nuno; Bastos, Joana; Cumaio, Florência; Silva, Paula; Dias, Eunice; Barros, Henrique

doi:10.1007/s11096-007-9161-8

Cited by 12 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…This is consistent with previous finding in studies addressing the effect of questionnaire design on the recall of pharmacological treatments [16,18,19]. …”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

“…This sample allows differences in the estimates of the two questionnaires to be detected with a power of 80%, for a 95% confidence level, when the magnitude of the difference corresponds to a risk ratio of two, and the proportion of drug use is above 10%, considering a design effect as high as 1.15 (which would be obtained for an average cluster size of 15 and an intra-cluster correlation coefficient of 0.01) [15]. The assumptions about the expected design effect and average cluster size are supported by a previous similar study in the same setting [16]. …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 66%

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Effect of questionnaire structure on recall of drug utilization in a population of university students

Gama

Correia

Lunet

2009

BMC Med Res Methodol

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BackgroundSelf-reported data are a common source of information about drug exposure. Modes of data collection differ considerably and the questionnaire's structure may affect prevalence estimates. We compared the recall of medication use evaluated by means of two questionnaires differing in structure and length.MethodsDrug utilization was assessed by two alternative versions of a questionnaire (A – 4 pages, including specific questions for 12 indications/pharmacological groups and one question for "other medicines"; B – 1 page, including 1 open-ended question to cover overall drug consumption). Each of 32 classes in a private University in Maputo, Mozambique, was randomly assigned questionnaire A (233 participants) or B (276 participants). Logistic regression (allowing for clustering by classroom) was used to compare the two groups in terms of socio-demographic characteristics and medication used during the previous month.ResultsOverall, 67.4% of the subjects had used at least one drug during the previous month. The following prevalences were greater among participants completing questionnaire A: use of drugs from two or more pharmacological groups (60.5% vs. 34.4%, p < 0.001), use of two or more drugs (66.2% vs. 43.0%, p < 0.001), and use of antibiotics (14.6% vs. 6.9%, p = 0.001), antifungals (9.4% vs. 4.0%, p = 0.013), antiparasitics (5.6% vs. 1.8%, p = 0.031) and antacids (8.6% vs. 3.6%, p = 0.024). Information about duration of treatment and medical advice was more complete with version A.ConclusionThe indication/drug-specific questions (questionnaire A) revealed a significantly higher prevalence of use of medicines – antibiotics, antifungals, antiparasitics and antacids – without compromising the completeness of the information.

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“…This is consistent with previous finding in studies addressing the effect of questionnaire design on the recall of pharmacological treatments [16,18,19]. …”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 66%

Effect of questionnaire structure on recall of drug utilization in a population of university students

Gama

Correia

Lunet

2009

BMC Med Res Methodol

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“…That study also showed similar results for documented clinic attendances, antimalarial prescriptions, and antibiotic prescriptions. Furthermore, differences in questionnaire design may also influence the results for recall of past health events; a study of antimalarial drug utilization recall conducted in Mozambique indicated that recall of which antimalarial drug was used to treat a past episode of malaria could be influenced by the ordering of the drugs as read to the respondent [19].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring Coverage in MNCH: Accuracy of Measuring Diagnosis and Treatment of Childhood Malaria from Household Surveys in Zambia

Eisele

Silumbe²,

Yukich

et al. 2013

PLoS Med

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BackgroundTo assess progress in the scale-up of rapid diagnostic tests and artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) across Africa, malaria control programs have increasingly relied on standardized national household surveys to determine the proportion of children with a fever in the past 2 wk who received an effective antimalarial within 1–2 d of the onset of fever. Here, the validity of caregiver recall for measuring the primary coverage indicators for malaria diagnosis and treatment of children <5 y old is assessed.Methods and FindingsA cross-sectional study was conducted in five public clinics in Kaoma District, Western Provence, Zambia, to estimate the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of caregivers' recall of malaria testing, diagnosis, and treatment, compared to a gold standard of direct observation at the health clinics. Compared to the gold standard of clinic observation, for recall for children with fever in the past 2 wk, the sensitivity for recalling that a finger/heel stick was done was 61.9%, with a specificity of 90.0%. The sensitivity and specificity of caregivers' recalling a positive malaria test result were 62.4% and 90.7%, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of recalling that the child was given a malaria diagnosis, irrespective of whether a laboratory test was actually done, were 76.8% and 75.9%, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity for recalling that an ACT was given were 81.0% and 91.5%, respectively.ConclusionsBased on these findings, results from household surveys should continue to be used for ascertaining the coverage of children with a fever in the past 2 wk that received an ACT. However, as recall of a malaria diagnosis remains suboptimal, its use in defining malaria treatment coverage is not recommended. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary

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“…In the majority of cases, the questionnaires are based on recall questions regarding drug use, requiring short, medium or even long-term memory recall from the respondent 1,[3][4][5] . Under-reporting of drug use is considered to result from recall error, even if the error magnitude is not known [6][7][8][9][10][11] .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Each author adopts a preferred period based on convenience or on a trend observed in other studies 13 . This practice may hinder the comparison of estimates of drug use prevalence obtained in different studies 5,12,14,15 . Studies evaluating the recall period and validity of the collected data are scarce.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Agreement between different recall periods in drug utilization studies

Moraes

Mengue

Pizzol

2017

Rev. bras. epidemiol.

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ABSTRACT:Objective: To assess the agreement between three recall periods for self-reported drug use using a 24-hour recall period as reference. Methods: Participants were allocated into three groups with different recall periods of 7, 14 and 30 days and were interviewed at two different times. A 24-hour recall questionnaire was answered during the first interview, and a questionnaire on drug use over the different recall periods tested was answered during the second interview. The agreement between the questionnaires was evaluated using percent agreement and kappa. Results: For continuous drugs, percent agreement varied between 92 and 99% and kappa varied between 0.71 and 0.97 for three periods tested. For drugs of occasional use, percent agreement varied between 63 and 81% and kappa varied between 0.27 and 0.52. The prevalence of drugs, particularly those of occasional use, increases with time. Conclusions: The high level of agreement between the three recall periods suggests that all of them are valid for the investigation of drugs of continuous use.

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Recall of drug utilization depends on subtle structural questionnaire characteristics

Cited by 12 publications

References 16 publications

Effect of questionnaire structure on recall of drug utilization in a population of university students

Effect of questionnaire structure on recall of drug utilization in a population of university students

Measuring Coverage in MNCH: Accuracy of Measuring Diagnosis and Treatment of Childhood Malaria from Household Surveys in Zambia

Agreement between different recall periods in drug utilization studies

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