ESTIMATES OF POPULATION SMOKING PREVALENCE - SELF VS PROXY REPORTS OFSMOKING STATUS

Objectives. In the face of rising costs of surveillance systems, it is time to reexamine the feasibility of including proxy respondents in s urveys designed to provide population estimates of smoking prevalence. Methods. Data are from the California Tobacco Surveys, which are rand om-digit dialed telephone surveys. One adult provided demographic info rmation and smoking status for all household residents. Additionally, some adults were selected for in-depth interviews that also included s moking status questions. We matched information from proxy respondents and self-respondents and evaluated smoking status discrepancies betwe en them relative to demographic and other factors (n = 2930 matched pa irs) in 1992. We address the potential bias these discrepancies might introduce into the population estimate of smoking prevalence. Results. Overall, the discrepancy between proxy report and self-report was 4.3 %, and it increased particularly when the self-respondent reported non daily smoking or recent quitting. Discrepancies acted in both directio ns, and the net bias was that the screener survey overestimated smokin g prevalence by 0.1% in 1992 (0.3% in 1990). Conclusions. Smoking stat us questions can be added to ongoing surveys such as the census or lab or force surveys; one adult could provide smoking status for all house hold members.