Improving knowledge about disability transitions by adding retrospective information to panel surveys. Population Health Metrics

摘要

BackgroundPanel data are often used to estimate key measures of public health, such as years lived with and without disability. Panel surveys commonly measure disability at intervals of one or two years, and occasionally more than two. It is likely that these intervals often include unreported changes in functional status. Unreported changes may bias estimates of disability transition probabilities, which are commonly used to estimate years lived with and without disability. Most surveys do not ask participants about periods with and without disability in the time since they last responded to the survey. We examined a way to improve the usefulness of panel surveys and our understanding of disability processes, by eliciting retrospective disability information.