RELIABILITY OF PARTNER REPORTS OF SEXUAL HISTORY IN A HETEROSEXUAL POPULATION AT A SEXUALLY-TRANSMITTED DISEASES CLINIC

Background: In epidemiologic research, information about sexual freque ncy and condom use is by necessity based on self-reports. This study i nvestigated the reliability of self-reported sexual behavior in 162 he terosexual partnerships.Methods: Subjects were part of a larger study of condom use and sexually transmitted diseases (STD) conducted in two Baltimore STD clinics from 1990 to 1992. Partners were enrolled on th e same day and were interviewed separately. Information about sexual a ctivity and condom use was collected using a retrospective calendar fo r the 30 days before enrollment. Results: Participants were predominan tly young, unmarried African-Americans. Based on Spearman's correlatio n coefficients and kappa statistics, the authors found only fair agree ment (K = 0.43; r = 0.51) between partner reports of overall condom us e for the 30-day period before the interview. Correlation coefficients ranged from 0.43 for frequency of any sexual activity to 0.56 for num ber of days on which vaginal intercourse occurred. Conclusions: Partne r agreement for condom use and frequency of sexual activity decreased as the recall period increased. Higher partner agreement was observed for questions with definite answers compared to the more open-ended se xual behavior questions. These findings indicate potential reporting b ias in self-reports of sexual behavior in a population at high. risk f or STDs.