Validity assessment of self-reported medication use for hypertension, diabetes and dyslipidemia in a pharmacoepidemiologic study by comparison with health insurance claims
Abstract Background Although self-reported questionnaires are widely employed in epidemiologic studies, their validity has not been sufficiently assessed. The aim of this study was to evaluate the validity of a self-reported questionnaire on medication use by comparison with health insurance claims and to identify individual determinants of discordance.Methods Participants were 2,720 community-dwellers aged 37 to 78 years from the Tsuruoka Metabolomics Cohort Study. Information on lifestyle and medications was collected through a questionnaire. Sensitivity and specificity were determined using health insurance claims from November 2014 to March 2016, which were used as a standard. Potential determinants of discordance were assessed by multivariable logistic regression.Results The self-reported questionnaire on medication use showed high validity. Sensitivity and specificity were 0.95 (95% CI:0.93-0.96) and 0.94 (0.93-0.95) for antihypertensives, 0.94 (0.91-0.97) and 0.98 (0.98-0.99) for diabetes medications, 0.84 (0.82-0.87) and 0.96 (0.95-0.97) for dyslipidemia medications, respectively. Males without high education were found to be associated with discordant reporting, especially those with medication use for dyslipidemia.Conclusions In this population-based study, we found that the self-reported questionnaire on medication use was a valid measure of true medication use. Sensitivity for dyslipidemia medications was lower than those for the other medications. Type of medication, gender and education influenced discordance in self-reporting.