Health status of preterm low-birth-weight infants. Comparison of maternal reports
S. H. Scholle, L. Whiteside, K. Kelleher, R. Bradley and P. Casey
Department of Pediatrics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, USA.
BACKGROUND: Developers of measures of child health status have documented
acceptable reliability and some validity, but less attention has been paid
to the concurrent and predictive validity of these measures. METHODS: We
examined the concurrent and predictive validity of the RAND General Health
Rating Index, the Stein-Jessop Functional Status II-R, and the mother's
global assessment of her child's health on a 5-point scale, in a sample of
preterm low-birth-weight children (n = 608) who were followed up as
controls in the Infant Health and Development Program. We compared
maternal-reported measures assessed at 24 months with other measures of
growth, morbidity, functioning, and health care utilization assessed
concurrently and at 36 months in bivariate and multivariate analyses.
RESULTS: After controlling for other factors, the RAND General Health
Rating Index and the Stein-Jessop Functional Status II-R were unrelated to
the growth, utilization, or functioning measures. The RAND General Health
Rating Index was significantly, but weakly, related to future morbidity.
The mother's global perception of health was significantly related to
outpatient utilization and behavior problems. CONCLUSIONS: Clinicians may
find that maternal assessment of overall child health is a sensitive but
nonspecific indicator of the mother's concern. For researchers, none of
these measures seems likely to serve as a proxy for health care utilization
or morbidity in studies of other phenomena, or as an indicator of detailed
health outcomes.
