Purpose: To identify and describe publications addressing the agreement between self-reported medication and other data sources among adults and, in a subgroup of studies dealing with cancer patients, seek to identify parameters which are associated with agreement.
Methods: A systematic review including a systematic search within five biomedical databases up to February 28, 2019 was conducted as per the PRISMA Statement. Studies and agreement results were described. For a subgroup of studies dealing with cancer, we searched for associations between agreement and patients' characteristics, study design, comparison data source, and self-report modality.
Results: The literature search retrieved 3392 publications. Included articles (n = 120) show heterogeneous agreement. Eighteen publications focused on cancer populations, with relatively good agreement identified in those which analyzed hormone therapy, estrogen, and chemotherapy (n = 11). Agreement was especially good for chemotherapy (proportion correct ≥93.6%, kappa ≥0.88). No distinct associations between agreement and age, education or marital status were identified in the results. There was little evaluation of associations between agreement and study design, self-report modality and comparison data source, thus not allowing for any conclusions to be drawn.
Conclusion: An overview of the evidence available from validation studies with a description of several characteristics is provided. Studies with experimental design which evaluate factors that might affect agreement between self-report and other data sources are lacking.
Keywords: drug prescriptions; medical records; pharmaceutical preparations; pharmacies; pharmacoepidemiology; self-report; validation studies.
© 2021 The Authors. Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.