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Evidence of recall bias in volunteered vs. prompted responses about occupational exposures
Author(s) -
Teschke Kay,
Smith Joanna C.,
Olshan Andrew F.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0274(200010)38:4<385::aid-ajim3>3.0.co;2-q
Subject(s) - recall bias , medicine , recall , odds ratio , population , information bias , case control study , environmental health , demography , selection bias , psychology , pathology , cognitive psychology , sociology
Background Recall bias remains a concern in case‐control studies, although few investigations have found evidence of differential recall. This study examined whether differences in occupational exposure reporting occur in volunteered vs. prompted questionnaire responses. Methods In a large, population‐based, case–control study of a childhood cancer, neuroblastoma, we calculated odds ratios for broad occupational exposure groups on the assumption that in the absence of recall bias, risk estimates for such broad groupings should be close to the null value. Results Prompted exposures and work activities showed little evidence of differential recall by parents of cases and controls (all OR < 1.2), but case parents were more likely to volunteer information about other exposures or activities (ORs: 1.35–1.71). Case mothers were also more likely than control mothers to report activities involving indirect exposure (OR = 1.41). Conclusions These findings suggest that prompted exposure questions are less likely to be subject to recall bias than open‐ended questions. Am. J. Ind. Med. 38:385–388, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.