“Attacks” or “Whistling”: Impact of Questionnaire Wording on Wheeze Prevalence Estimates

Abstract

BackgroundEstimates of prevalence of wheeze depend on questionnaires. However, wording of questions may vary between studies. We investigated effects of alternative wording on estimates of prevalence and severity of wheeze, and associations with risk factors.MethodsWhite and South Asian children from a population-based cohort (UK) were randomly assigned to two groups and followed up at one, four and six years (1998, 2001, 2003). Parents were asked either if their child ever had “attacks of wheeze” (attack group, N=535), or “wheezing or whistling in the chest” (whistling group, N=2859). All other study aspects were identical, including questions about other respiratory symptoms.ResultsPrevalence of wheeze ever was lower in the attack group than in the whistling group for all surveys (32 vs. 40% in white children aged one year, p<0.001). Prevalence of other respiratory symptoms did not differ between groups. Wheeze tended to be more severe in the attack group. The strength of association with risk factors was comparable in the two groups.ConclusionsThe wording of questions on wheeze can affect estimates of prevalence, but has less impact on measured associations with risk factors. Question wording is a potential source of between-study-heterogeneity in meta-analyses.

The World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2 (WHODAS 2.0): remarks on the need to revise the WHODAS

“…The remarks on the wording of the WHODAS are essential as the wording of a questionnaire tremendously impacts the results 52 , consequences for the use of health services 53 and the prevalence of a health condition 54 .…”

The use of self-report questions to examine the prevalence of musculoskeletal problems: a test-retest study

“…However for other areas of pain (foot, hand, back) question wording has a significant impact and for two of these areas (hand and back) there was also a significant effect of the time period between the responses. While questionnaire wording has been shown to have an effect on survey responses [ 12 ], these appear to depend on the type of questions that are asked [ 11 , 13 ]. It is unclear however as to why an effect exists for the back, foot and hand as opposed to the shoulder, knee and hip and also why an effect of time or possibly recall bias is present for the hand and back in particular.…”

“…Other issues which are likely to impact on prevalence estimates obtained from questionnaires include response category wording and mode of administration. Questionnaire wording has been shown to influence the reported prevalence of conditions such as wheezing in asthma [ 11 ], and in terms of musculoskeletal pain, the provision of different anatomical descriptions of the back provided different prevalence estimates for low back pain [ 12 ]. However the wording of questions related to illness burden was not shown to impact responses [ 13 ].…”

Characteristics of a Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Sample Recruited Using Amazon's Mechanical Turk

“…For example, although most medical PM R 10 (2018) [45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55] www.pmrjournal.org professional organizations equate "concussion" and "mTBI" to be the same injury, members of the public judge the term "concussion" as less severe [7][8][9]. This misperception likely has consequences; previous epidemiologic work has shown that the manner in which a condition or illness is defined may influence its prevalence [10]. Indeed, using a within-subjects design, Robbins et al [11] found that when provided with a current definition of mTBI, athletes were almost twice as likely to endorse having previously suffered a mTBI as they were when they were not provided with a definition.…”