Source
School of Public Health, Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Mount Carmel 31905, Israel. ornaepel@research.haifa.ac.il
Abstract
OBJECTIVE:
To validate self-reported mammography against claims records in women aged 52-74 living in Israel and belonging to the Jewish (non-orthodox pre-1989 native or former Soviet Union immigrant or ultra-orthodox) or Arab populations.
METHODS:
In a spring 2007 random telephone survey, 1550 women receiving healthcare at Maccabi Health Services were asked whether they had had a mammography during the previous 2 years. The same information was obtained from claims records and treated as the gold standard.
RESULTS:
Self-reported mammography and claims records disagreed for 17.4%. Compared to the other populations, Arab women tended to report more often that they had obtained a mammogram when it was not registered in the claims data (specificity=47.3%, 95% CI%=38.4, 56.3). Ultra-orthodox women more often failed to report having had the mammogram while the claims records indicated they had had (sensitivity=90.3%, 95% CI%=86.1, 93.6).
CONCLUSION:
Agreement between self-reported mammography and claims records depends on cultural and socioeconomic factors.