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Accuracy of self-reported healthcare use in patients with osteoarthritis.

OBJECTIVE
To assess the accuracy of self-reports of use of healthcare services by comparing patient reports to the patients' medical records kept by the health agency.


METHODS
The participants were 213 members of a large health maintenance organization (HMO) who were 60 years of age or older and had a diagnosis of osteoarthritis. Participants were asked to keep medical logs for 6 months; these data were collected after 3 and 6 months. Agency reported healthcare data were collected for the same 6 month period.


RESULTS
The average number of contacts reported by the HMO was 6.42, while the average number of self-reported contacts was 3.79. The mean absolute discrepancy score between self and agency reported contacts was 3.45. More salient contacts (i.e., days in hospital) were more accurately reported than routine doctor visits, but 70% of the participants underreported their total use of the medical care system.


CONCLUSION
Accurate and unbiased information is a fundamental necessity basis for making decisions about healthcare issues, and self-reports may not provide such information.