Abstract
This study compared resource use data and estimated costs over a 12-month period, based on patient self-report questionnaires and general practitioner records. The level of agreement was measured by weighted κ. Differences in total costs were plotted against mean total costs. Of 324 patients with complete GP records for the period only 85 (26.2%) had complete self-report data. The recorded number of contacts per patient was higher for patient questionnaires than GP records (17.20 vs. 12.64), and the level of agreement between the two sources was moderate (κw=0.465). The plots of differences in total costs showed a slight downward bias, suggesting that estimation of total cost from GP records is lower than patient questionnaires. The incompleteness of patient questionnaires forces reliance on GP records as the main source of information for economic evaluations.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Johnston K, Buxton M, Jones D, Fitzpatrick R (1999) Assessing the costs of healthcare technologies in clinical trials. Health Technol Assess 3 (6)
Verbrugge L (1980) Health diaries. Med Care 18:73–95
Peveler R, Kendrick T, Buxton M et al. (2005) Randomised controlled trial to compare the cost-effectiveness of tricyclic antidepressants, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, and lofepramine. Health Technol Assess 9:1–148
Kendrick T, Peveler R, Longworth L et al. (2005) Randomised controlled trial to compare the cost-effectiveness and cost-utility of tricyclic antidepressants, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, and lofepramine: the Assessing Health Economics of Antidepressants (AHEAD) study. Br J Psychiatry (in press)
Lubeck DP, Hubert HB (2005) Self-report viable method for obtaining health care utilization data in community-dwelling seniors. J Clin Epidemiol 58:286–290
Roberts RO, Bergstralh EJ, Schmidt L, Jacobsen SJ (1996) Comparison of self-reported and medical record health care utilisation measures. J Clin Epidemiol 49:989–995
Bland J, Altman D (1986) Statistical methods for assessing agreement between two methods of clinical measurement. Lancet 1:307–310
Coyle D, Lee K, Drummond M (1999) Comparison of alternative sources of data on health service encounters. J Health Serv Res Policy 4:210–214
Zhu K, McKnight B, Stergachis A et al. (1999) Comparison of self-report data and medical records data: results from a case-control study on prostate cancer. Int J Epidemiol 28:409–417
Ruof J, Huelsemann JL, Mittendorf T et al. (2004) Patient reported health care utilization in rheumatoid arthritis: what level of detail is required? Arthritis Rheum 51:774–781
Brink M van der, van de Hout WB, Stiggelbout AM et al. (2004) Cost measurement in economic evaluations of health care—whom to ask? Med Care 42:740–746
McGee MA, Howie DW, Ryan P et al. (2002) Comparison of patient and doctor responses to a total hip arthroplasty clinical evaluation questionnaire. J Bone Joint Surg Am 84-A:1745–1752
Cotterchio M, Kreiger N, Darlington G, Steingart A (1999) Comparison of self-reported and physician-reported antidepressant medication use. Ann Epidemiol 9:283–289
Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the important contribution of the patients, the health professionals and the rest of the AHEAD team involved with the trial. The original research was funded by the NHS R&D Health Technology Assessment Programme (project number 96/61/11). Support to the Health Economics Research Group for this methodological study was part of a Programme Grant from the Department of Health Policy Research Programme. The views and opinions expressed therein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Health.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Consortia
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mistry, H., Buxton, M., Longworth, L. et al. Comparison of general practitioner records and patient self-report questionnaires for estimation of costs. Eur J Health Econ 6, 261–266 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10198-005-0300-7
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10198-005-0300-7