Reliability of self-report on basic health conditions in Mexican Americans Age 80 and older

Reliability of self-reports in survey research is important. Little is known about the reliability of self-reports in the very old (aged 80+). The objective of this study is to evaluate the level of reliability in self-reports by assessing the level of agreement between a “respondents” and their “informants” (children) as they rate the respondent's: hearing ability; vision capacity; and nine health conditions. Descriptive statistics, observed agreement, and kappa values are computed on 389 pairs using HEPESE Wave-7 data (2010–2011). Although further studies are required, there is evidence that self-reports on basic health conditions in the very old are reliable.