KNOWLEDGE OF MEDICAL HISTORY INFORMATION AMONG PROXY RESPONDENTS FOR DECEASED STUDY SUBJECTS

Proxy respondents were interviewed for 96 decedents in an occupational cohort. A second respondent was interviewed for 59 decedents. Medical records were reviewed to validate questionnaire information. The perc entage of respondents who answered ''don't know'' (non-response) to qu estions about medical condition ranged from 5% (cancer and heart disea se) to 17% (ulcers). Non-response rates were lowest among spouses, int ermediate among children, parents, and siblings, and highest among oth er relatives and friends. Among 41-55 pairs, depending on the conditio n, agreement between paired respondents was excellent (K > 0.75) for u lcers, cancer, diabetes, and lung disease. A higher percentage of medi cal records was obtained for decedents with spouse respondents and for decedents with more recent dates of death. Sixty percent or more of t he medical records were obtained for patients with cancer (n = 30), he art disease (n = 26), stroke (n = 9), and liver disease (n = 10). The positive predictive value of the proxy respondent information for thes e conditions was 93, 81, 78, and 60%, respectively.