Validity of self-reported age at menarche in computer-assisted interview among Chinese schoolgirls: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

ObjectiveThe attitudes of girls regarding menarche vary according to their cultural backgrounds. Asian girls may hesitate to discuss menarche. Computer-assisted self-administered interviewing (CASI) is considered a valid and effective tool for investigating the timing of menarche; however, the validity of self-reported menarche data from CASI in Chinese culture is currently unknown. We aimed to validate the status and age of menarche attainment by comparing CASI with face-to-face interviewing (FFI).MethodsBased on a cross-sectional study, we collected information regarding the status and age of menarche attainment using CASI and FFI among Chinese schoolgirls. We explored the tools of standard epidemiological indices, including sensitivity, specificity, predictive values and accuracy to examine the capacity of CASI for correctly classifying the status of menarche. Both Pearson and Spearman correlations were calculated for the correlation of age at menarche using CASI with FFI. A Bland-Altman plot was drawn to measure the agreement between the two interview techniques.ResultsIn this study, CASI and FFI were conducted in 3478 schoolgirls with an average age (SD) of 14.3 years (2.46). Menarche attainment was reported in 2496 (71.2%) and 2538 (73.0%) girls using CASI and FFI, respectively. Compared with FFI, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value and the accuracy of CASI were 0.97, 0.80, 0.96 and 0.92, respectively. The correlation of age at menarche between CASI and FFI was 0.728. Approximately >95% and 76.3% of the difference in the age at menarche was within 12 months and 3 months, respectively, between the two interview methods. Among primary schoolgirls in grade 5, the sensitivity, specificity, PPV, accuracy and the correlation (0.335) of CASI was lower than those in other subgroups.ConclusionsOverall, the timing of menarche investigated using CASI was valid among all Chinese schoolgirls, except for those in grade 5 or lower.

The impact of the Wenchuan earthquake on early puberty: a natural experiment

“…Third, the data on oigarche/menarche were collected by self-report and thus may be prone to recall bias. However, there is much evidence to show a high degree of validity in recalled age at menarche, especially among adolescents ( Koprowski, Coates & Bernstein, 2001 ; Koo & Rohan, 1997 ; Malina et al, 2015 ; Mao et al, 2018 ). Fourth, we did not use Kaplan-Meier curve or Cox proportional hazards modeling because of the lack of data on the full spectrum of ages at puberty.…”

“…The 2013 survey included Sichuan, Hebei, Shaanxi, Shandong, Heilongjiang, and Guangxi, while the 2015 survey sampled Sichuan, Anhui and Inner Mongolia. The data was collected electronically in student computer labs ( Lian et al, 2018 ; Mao et al, 2018 ), and included age at menarche/ejaculation, knowledge, attitude and health risk behaviors about reproductive health. We investigated 9,785 adolescents (4,830 boys and 4,955 girls) in two cycles of the survey and dropped 902 adolescents who had experienced oigarche/menarche before the Wenchuan earthquake because their pubertal timing accessed by oigarche/menarche could not be influenced by the earthquake.…”

Household Cooking Energy Consumption Situation in Gombe Metropolis, Nigeria: A Mix of Quantitative and Qualitative Research Approaches

“…Thereafter, the data was generated directly from the server immediately after the interview in an XLS format ready for analysis. The major advantage of using Kobo Collect mobile application in data collection over the traditional paper and pen method includes more data accuracy, quality, and reliability, and also time and cost-effectiveness (Randolph, Virnes, Jormanainen, and Eronen, 2006); Mao et al (2018) and Samantara and Ratha (2020). The questionnaire admistration was carried out with the aid of research assitants for about one week throughout the study area.…”

Peer Review #1 of "The impact of the Wenchuan earthquake on early puberty: a natural experiment (v0.1)"

“…The 2013 survey included Sichuan, Hebei, Shaanxi, Shandong, Heilongjiang, and Guangxi, while 2015 survey sampled Sichuan, Anhui and Inner Mongolia. The data was collected electronically in student computer labs (Lian et al 2018;Mao et al 2018), including age at menarche/ejaculation, knowledge, attitude and health risk behaviors about reproductive health. We investigated 9,785 adolescents (4,830 boys and 4,955 girls) in two cycles of the survey and dropped 902 adolescents who had experienced oigarche/menarche before Wenchuan earthquake because their pubertal timing accessed by oigarche/menarche could not be influenced by the earthquake.…”

“…Third, the data on oigarche/menarche were collected by self-report and thus may be prone to recall bias. However, there is much evidence to show a high degree of validity in recalled age at menarche, especially among adolescents (Carol et al 2001;Koo & Rohan 1997;Malina et al 2015;Mao et al 2018). Fourth, we did not use Kaplan-Meier curve or Cox proportional hazards modeling because of lacking the data on the full spectrum of ages at puberty.…”