Errors in reported ages and dates in surveys of adult mortality: A record linkage study in Niakhar (Senegal)

Abstract

Sibling survival histories are a major source of adult mortality estimates in countries with incomplete death registration. We evaluate age and date reporting errors in sibling histories collected during a validation study in the Niakhar Health and Demographic Surveillance System (Senegal). Participants were randomly assigned to either the Demographic and Health Survey questionnaire or a questionnaire incorporating an event history calendar, recall cues, and increased probing strategies. We linked 60–62 per cent of survey reports of siblings to the reference database using manual and probabilistic approaches. Both questionnaires showed high sensitivity (>96 per cent) and specificity (>97 per cent) in recording siblings’ vital status. Respondents underestimated the age of living siblings, and age at and time since death of deceased siblings. These reporting errors introduced downward biases in mortality estimates. The revised questionnaire improved reporting of age of living siblings but not of age at or timing of deaths.

Keywords:

• mortality estimation
• sub-Saharan Africa
• adult mortality
• siblings
• record linkage
• Demographic and Health Surveys
• age misstatement

Notes

1 Please direct all correspondence to Bruno Masquelier, Centre for Demographic Research (DEMO), Université catholique de Louvain (UCL), Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium; or by E-mail: [email protected]

2 Bruno Masquelier is based at DEMO, UCL, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, and also the Institut national d'études démographiques (INED), Aubervilliers, France. Mufaro Kanyangarara was at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA, when she contributed to the analysis presented in this paper; she is now at the Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA. Gilles Pison is at the French Museum of Natural History (Laboratoire d'Éco-anthropologie, UMR 7206 CNRS-MNHN-Université de Paris), Paris, and also INED, both in France. Almamy Malick Kanté is based at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA. Cheikh Tidiane Ndiaye is at the United Nations Population Fund, Niamey, Niger. Laetitia Douillot is in the École d’études sociologiques et anthropologiques, Université d’Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada. Géraldine Duthé is based at INED, Aubervillers, France. Cheikh Sokhna is at UMR 257 IRD VITROME, Campus IRD-UCAD de Hann, Dakar, Sénégal. Valérie Delaunay is based in the Unité mixte de recherche LPED, Institut de recherche pour le développement, Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France. Stéphane Helleringer was at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA at the time of the study. He is now at New York University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

3 Funding: This work was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R03-HD071117 and R01-HD088516, PI: S. Helleringer) and the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-11-BSH1-0007, PI: G. Pison). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of this manuscript.

4 Data availability statement: The data set of the Niakhar survey is available in the OPENICPSR repository (https://www.openicpsr.org/openicpsr/project/100112/version/V1/view).

5 Ethical statement: This study was approved by the Columbia University Medical Center institutional review board (Protocol AAAI9159) and by the Ethics committee of Senegal’s Ministry of Health and Social Action (SEN 12/11). Study participants provided informed consent in writing before participating in the study.