Hypnotics use in children 0–18 months: moderate agreement between mother-reported survey data and prescription registry data

Abstract

BackgroundDifferent methods in pharmacoepidemiology can be used to study hypnotic use in children. But neither questionnaire-based data nor prescription records can be considered a “gold standard”. This study aimed to investigate the agreement between mother-reported questionnaire-based data and prescription record data for hypnotic drugs in children aged 0–18 months. The agreement was compared to the agreement for a group of antiepileptic drugs.MethodsPrescription record data were collected from the Norwegian prescription database for 47,413 children also surveyed in the Norwegian mother and child cohort between 2005 and 2009. Agreement between in the two data sources was calculated using Cohens Kappa. Multinomial logistic regression was used to calculate the effect of sociodemographic variables on discrepancies in data sources.ResultsThe agreement between mother-reported and dispensed hypnotics was less than 50% for all hypnotics. Sensitivity of reporting increased with number of filled prescriptions. The agreement of antiepileptic drugs was 92.9% in the same population. Of several sociodemographic factors only paternal educational level and maternal work situation was significantly related to agreement between prescription record and survey data.ConclusionThere was a moderate agreement between reported use and dispensed hypnotic drugs for infants and toddlers. Results indicate that sociodemographic factors play only a minor role in explaining discrepancy.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s40545-017-0117-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Agreement between self‐reported and registry‐based use of sleep medications and tranquilizers

“…For the 200‐day time window with one prescription, the proportion of medication users in the two data sources were more similar. Previous studies of the agreement of psychotropic drug use have commonly reported a higher prevalence of medication use in the registry data than in the self‐reported data . This could be explained by underreporting due to poor recall and reluctance to report sensitive information .…”

“…Previous studies of the agreement of psychotropic drug use have commonly reported a higher prevalence of medication use in the registry data than in the self-reported data. 10,16,18 This could be explained by underreporting due to poor recall and reluctance to report sensitive information. 1,27 Furthermore, the difference in prevalence of self-reported vs registry-based use is very likely to depend on the time window chosen for comparison.…”

“…Most studies on the agreement between self‐reported and registry data on psychotropic medications have been performed in specific subgroups such as the elderly, adolescents, and pregnant women . The agreement of hypnotic use has also been studied in infants, using parent‐reported data . Furthermore, one study assessed the agreement of psychotropic medication use in a study population of patients with schizophrenia and their siblings and parents .…”

“…14,15 The agreement of hypnotic use has also been studied in infants, using parent-reported data. 16 Furthermore, one study assessed the agreement of psychotropic medication use in a study population of patients with schizophrenia and their siblings and parents. 17 However, there are few studies having assessed the agreement of psychotropic medication use in a general adult population.…”