Medical Record Validation of Maternal Recall of Pregnancy and Birth Events From a Twin Cohort

Abstract

This study aims to assess the validity of maternal recall for several perinatal variables 8–10 years after pregnancy in a twin sample. Retrospective information was collected 8–10 years after the delivery event in a cohort of mothers from the University of Southern California Twin Study (N = 611) and compared with medical records for validity analysis. Recall of most variables showed substantial to perfect agreement (κ = 0.60–1.00), with notable exceptions for specific medical problems during pregnancy (κ ≤ 0.40) and substance use when mothers provided continuous data (e.g., number of cigarettes per day; r ≤ 0.24). With the exception of delivery method, neonatal intensive care unit admission, birth weight, neonatal information, and post-delivery complications were also recalled with low accuracy. For mothers of twins, maternal recall is generally a valid measure for perinatal variables 10 years after pregnancy. However, caution should be taken regarding variables such as substance use, medical problems, birth length, and post-delivery complications.

Estimating the Roles of Genetic Risk, Perinatal Risk, and Marital Hostility on Early Childhood Adjustment: Medical Records and Self-Reports

“…This study attempts to highlight the importance of including perinatal risks while also providing a strategy for compiling perinatal risks into a form that is relatively easy to use. We demonstrate that there is a relatively high level of agreement for self-reports and medical records on most constructs, which is consistent with previous reports (e.g., Liu et al, 2013; Olson et al, 1997), although perinatal events more medical in nature typically show lower agreement with medical records (e.g., Coolman et al, 2010). This report also demonstrates the usefulness of collapsing across multiple specific perinatal risks to create more general indices that represent categories of risk.…”

“…Similarly, a study of maternal recall 8 to 10 years after pregnancy found high agreement between maternal self-report and medical records for most variables. Yet, the recall for specific medical problems during pregnancy, neonatal intensive care, and post-delivery complications were recalled with low accuracy (Liu, Tuvblad, Li, Raine, & Baker, 2013). Similar patterns of findings were reported in two studies examining self-reports and birth records at 4 months postpartum (Dietz et al, 2014), with better recall for women with a college degree (Bat-Erdene, Metcalfe, McDonald, & Tough, 2013).…”

“…For those perinatal risks that are more medically relevant and for substance use during pregnancy, we expect to see less agreement. Specifically, birth mothers are unlikely to accurately recall specific medical events, as reported elsewhere and may be less likely to accurately report to care providers about their substance use during pregnancy (Liu, Tuvblad, Li, Raine, & Baker, 2013; Pickett et al, 2009). In the second aim, we use a parent-offspring adoption design to extend the existing work focused on disentangling genetic, perinatal environmental, and postnatal environmental influences on child externalizing and internalizing problems at age 4.5 years.…”

Maternal Smoking During Pregnancy and Offspring Birth Weight: A Genetically-Informed Approach Comparing Multiple Raters

“…Pickett et al (2009), for example, compared SDP data from women that was collected both prospectively (self-report and cotinine) and retrospectively (when children are in adolescence) and suggest that women’s ability to recall their smoking behavior in pregnancy more than a decade after the event is generally both accurate and reliable, particularly for the second and third trimester of pregnancy. Several studies have also compared maternal recall of prenatal events and behaviors to birth or medical records (e.g., Land et al 2012; Liu et al 2013; Neiderhiser et al, under review) in order to assess validity of retrospective recall. In general, these studies suggest very strong agreement between medical records and maternal recall when SDP is a dichotomous yes/no indicator, yet reports still caution against using maternal report as the sole source of information (e.g., Liu et al 2013).…”

“…Several studies have also compared maternal recall of prenatal events and behaviors to birth or medical records (e.g., Land et al 2012; Liu et al 2013; Neiderhiser et al, under review) in order to assess validity of retrospective recall. In general, these studies suggest very strong agreement between medical records and maternal recall when SDP is a dichotomous yes/no indicator, yet reports still caution against using maternal report as the sole source of information (e.g., Liu et al 2013). …”