Do panel surveys really make people sick? A commentary on Wilson and Howell (60:11, 2005, 2623-2627).

TitleDo panel surveys really make people sick? A commentary on Wilson and Howell (60:11, 2005, 2623-2627).
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2007
AuthorsWeir, DR, Smith, JP
JournalSoc Sci Med
Volume65
Issue6
Pagination1071-7; discussion 1078-81
Date Published2007 Sep
ISSN Number0277-9536
Call Numbernewpubs20071002_Commentary.pdf
KeywordsArthritis, Female, Health Surveys, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Prevalence, United States
Abstract

In a recent article in this journal, Wilson and Howell [2005. Do panel surveys make people sick? US arthritis trends in the Health and Retirement Survey. Social Science & Medicine, 60(11), 2623-2627.] argue that the sharp trend of rising age-specific arthritis prevalence from 1992 to 2000 in the USA among those in their 50s based on the original Health and Retirement Study (HRS) cohort of respondents is "almost surely spurious." Their reasons are that no such trend is found in the National Health Interview Study (NHIS) over this same time period, and that an introduction of a new birth cohort into HRS in 1998 also indicates no trend. They also claim that there may be an inherent bias in panel surveys leading respondents to report greater levels of disease as the duration of their participation in the panel increases. This bias, which they call "panel conditioning," suggests a tendency for participants in a longitudinal survey to seek out medical care and diagnosis of symptoms asked about in previous waves. In this paper, we show that the evidence presented and the conclusions reached by Wilson and Howell are incorrect. Properly analyzed, three national health surveys--the NHIS, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), and HRS--all show increases in age-specific arthritis prevalence during the 1990s. Since the new HRS sample cohort introduced in 1998 represents only a part of that birth cohort, we also demonstrate that Wilson and Howell's evidence in favor of panel conditioning was flawed. We find little indication of panel conditioning among existing participants in a panel survey.

DOI10.1016/j.socscimed.2007.04.019
User Guide Notes

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17574714?dopt=Abstract

Endnote Keywords

Research Design/Survey Methods/arthritis

Endnote ID

17920

Alternate JournalSoc Sci Med
Citation Key7150
PubMed ID17574714
Grant ListU01 AG009740 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States
P01 AG008291-13 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States
U01AG009740 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States