Information available from surrogate respondents in case-control interview studies

Linda Williams Pickle, Linda Morris Brown, William J. Blot

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

118 Scopus citations

Abstract

Pickle, L W. (Environmental Epidemiology Branch, NCI, Bethesda, MD 20205), L M. Brown and W. J. Blot. Information available from surrogate respondents In case-control Interview studies. Am J Epidemiol 1983; 118: 99-108.Epidemiologic studies of fatal diseases often require that information be sought from relatives or friends of deceased or disabled patients. The authors have evaluated the ability of several types of surrogate respondents to provide information on the smoking, occupational, medical history, and demographic characteristics of their next of kin in three recent case-control studies involving interviews with 2606 individuals. The ability of the surrogates to provide this information varied by topic, degree of detail requested, race, sex, age, and study area, but was most affected by the type of respondent Slbs were best able to respond to questions about the subject's immediate family or events that occurred during early life, while spouses and offspring were best able to describe events that occurred during adult life. Several recommendations are made to Improve the design of future interview studies.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)99-108
Number of pages10
JournalAmerican journal of epidemiology
Volume118
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 1983

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Epidemiology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Information available from surrogate respondents in case-control interview studies'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this