Title | Effect of recall period on the reporting of occupational injuries among older workers in the Health and Retirement Study. |
Publication Type | Journal Article |
Year of Publication | 1995 |
Authors | Zwerling, C, Sprince, NL, Wallace, RB, Davis, CS, Whitten, PS, Heeringa, SG |
Journal | Am J Ind Med |
Volume | 28 |
Issue | 5 |
Pagination | 583-90 |
Date Published | 1995 Nov |
ISSN Number | 0271-3586 |
Keywords | Accidents, Occupational, Adult, Aged, Bias, Cross-Sectional Studies, Data collection, Female, Humans, Incidence, Linear Models, Male, Mental Recall, Middle Aged, Models, Statistical, Reproducibility of Results, Retirement, Risk Factors, Time Factors, United States |
Abstract | Studies of injury morbidity often rely on self-reported survey data. In designing these surveys, researchers must chose between a shorter recall period to minimize recall bias and a longer period to maximize the precision of rate estimates. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, which employed a recall period of 1 year, we examined the effect of the recall period on rates of occupational injuries among older workers as well as upon rate ratios of these injuries for nine risk factors. We fit a stochastic model to the occupational injury rates as a function of time before the interview and used this model to estimate what the injury rates would have been had we used a 4-week recall period. The adjusted occupational injury rate of 5.9 injuries per 100 workers per year was 36% higher than the rate based on a 1-year recall period. Adjustment for recall period had much less effect on rate ratios, which typically varied by < 10%. Our work suggests that self-reported surveys with longer recall periods may be used to estimate occupational injury rates and also may be useful in studying the associations between occupational injuries and a variety of risk factors. |
DOI | 10.1002/ajim.4700280503 |
User Guide Notes | |
Endnote Keywords | Accidents, Occupational/Adult/Bias (Epidemiology)/Morbidity/Gender/Incidence/Middle Age/Models, Statistical/Recall/Reproducibility of Results/Retirement/Risk Factors/Support, U.S. Government--PHS/Time Factors |
Endnote ID | 4425 |
Alternate Journal | Am J Ind Med |
Citation Key | 6534 |
PubMed ID | 8561168 |
Grant List | R49/CCR703640-04 / / PHS HHS / United States |