EFFECT OF PROXY-REPORTED SMOKING STATUS ON POPULATION ESTIMATES OF SMOKING PREVALENCE

The use of proxy respondents in surveys designed to provide population estimates of smoking prevalence offers an inexpensive way to obtain t hese data. The accuracy of this information is examined in analyzing d ata from tobacco use surveys of adults conducted in 22 North American communities as part of the National Cancer Institute's Community inter vention Trial for Smoking Cessation. Proxy-reported smoking status was obtained in a cross-sectional telephone survey conducted from August 1993 to January 1994 (n = 99,682). Self-reported smoking status was ob tained from an in-depth interview of a sample of the respondents aged 25-64 years enumerated from the telephone survey (n = 31,417). Discrep ancy rates were calculated by comparing the proxy-reported and self-re ported smoking statuses of a given individual (n = 10,226), in both su rveys, respondents were categorized as current smokers (those who curr ently smoke and have smoked at least 100 cigarettes in their lifetime) , recent quitters (less than or equal to 8 years since cessation), lon g-term quitters (>8 years since cessation), and never smokers. The ove rall discrepancy rate between the self-report and the proxy report was 5.4%. Self-respondents who were black, Hispanic, Asian, recent quitte rs, or aged 25-34 years were more likely to have inconsistent proxy re ports, The authors estimate that the screener interview underestimated the true smoking prevalence by 0.1% when they corrected for smoking s tatus discrepancies. These results confirm that proxy-reported smoking status is an accurate and effective means to monitor populationwide s moking prevalence of adults.