RELIABILITY OF ENVIRONMENTAL, BIOLOGICAL AND HEALTH CHARACTERISTICS OF INFANTS FROM A DEVELOPING-COUNTRY

Background. Although most epidemiological data are gathered by intervi ews, few studies ascertain their reliability. This study quantified in ter-observer reliability of environmental, biological and health chara cteristics of underprivileged children, in a southern Brazilian state. Methods. Five health care professionals who had received extensive st andardized interview and observation training interviewed mothers and observed the home environments of a random sample of 102 children. A s econd interview was conducted by a sixth health professional who had r eceived separate but identical training without the initial interviewe r knowing a follow-up interview would be conducted. Data from the two independent interviews and observations were compared for agreement us ing the kappa statistic. Results. There was excellent agreement (kappa >0.75) for most of the household characteristics, such as type of wal ls, ceiling, floor and windows in spite of the diversity of buildings. Presence of the parents, number of people in the household, age of th e mother and health assistance were reliable as well. However, informa tion about skin colour of the mother and the number of cracks in the h ouse only reached fair agreement. Conclusions. These results showed th at data gathered by observation and interviews generate accurate infor mation about environmental, biological and health care characteristics . Those based on written information, such as birth date, were highly concordant.