Influence of proxy respondents in children's health interview surveys

Study objectives-To study the influence of the proxy respondent on health i nterview surveys in children. Design-Cross sectional study. Setting-Children under the age of 15 years drawn from the general populatio n of Catalonia, Spain. Participants-The Catalan Health Interview Survey consisted of a multistage probability sample representative to the population of Catalonia. The sampl e size was 2433 children younger than 15 years of age. The interviews were answered by proxy respondents (the mother, father, or other carer), with th e questionnaire adapted for the proxy respondent, Logistic regression model s were used to analyse the relation between the proxy respondent's characte ristics and health status and health care utilisation, controlling for the effect of sociodemographic factors. Main results-Proxy respondent's characteristics influenced the reports of c hronic conditions and accidents within the last year. Proxy respondents ove r 55 years (OR= 0.47; 95% CI= 0.26, 0.82), men (OR= 0.69; 95% CI= 0.53, 0.8 9), the father (OR= 0.66; 95% CI= 0.50, 0.89), and the grandparents (OR= 0. 49; 95% CI= 0.26, 0.89), reported a lower rate of chronic conditions. Age o f the proxy 55 years or greater (OR= 0.41; 95% CI= 0.20, 0.82), men (OR= 0. 70; 95% CI= 0.52, 0.94), fathers (OR= 0.68; 95% CI= 0.49, 0.92), and grandp arents (OR= 0.40; 95% CI= 0.18, 0.85) showed a lower probability to report accidents. No variables related to the proxy were associated with physician visits or hospitalisation in the previous year. Conclusions-Selected characteristics of the proxy respondent can influence responses to health surveys involving children. A minimum set of basic data should be collected from the proxy respondent to evaluate different patter ns of response.