Validity of self-reported mammography in a multicultural population in Israel

Objective: To validate self-reported mammography against claims records in women aged 52-74 living in Israel and belonging to the Jewish (non-orthodox pre-1989 native or former Soviet Union immigrant or ultra-orthodox) or Arab populations. Methods: In a spring 2007 random telephone survey, 1550 women receiving healthcare at Maccabi Health Services were asked whether they had had a mammography during the previous 2 years. The same information was obtained from claims records and treated as the gold standard. Results: Self-reported mammography and claims records disagreed for 17.4%. Compared to the other populations, Arab women tended to report more often that they had obtained a mammogram when it was not registered in the claims data (specificity = 47.3%, 95% CI% = 38.4, 56.3). Ultra-orthodox women more often failed to report having had the mammogram while the claims records indicated they had had (sensitivity = 90.3%, 95% CI% = 86.1, 93.6). Conclusion: Agreement between self-reported mammography and claims records depends on cultural and socioeconomic factors.