Self-reported and medical chart histories of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) children and young adults

Abstract

Background: Self-reported health history is frequently used in evaluations of disease prevalence and burden. The accuracy of these responses has not been well studied in Indigenous populations.

Aims: To determine the agreement between self-reported and medical chart histories relating to respiratory and atopic conditions in Indigenous Australians.

Methods: We recruited 1097 Australian Indigenous children and young adults (≤25 yrs). Self-reported information was collected from parents (participants <18 yrs) and participants (>18 yrs) using two health questionnaires. Medical charts were manually reviewed.

Results: There were 962 participants who had both self-reported and medical chart histories. Table 1 shows the reporting frequency and Kappa scores (agreement between sources) for each condition. Self-reporting rates were higher than medical chart evidence for all conditions except pneumonia. Asthma had the best agreement between self-reported and medical chart evidence (κ=0.5).

Conclusion: There is poor agreement between self-reported and medical chart diagnoses in our cohort. This may reflect poor health knowledge and/or poor medical chart documentation of these conditions. These results highlight challenges for monitoring disease prevalence/burden within Australian Indigenous communities.