The Reliability of Maternal Recall

Abstract

Fifty-nine mothers were asked, when their babies were nine months of age, to recall the baby's birth date, birth weight, last recorded weight, past illnesses, illness visits, well-baby visits, and immunization history. These responses were checked against the data recorded in the baby's clinical records to determine the accuracy of the mothers' recall. Maternal education did affect the accuracy of recall while maternal age, race, and the sex and birth order of the baby did not. Health and illness related historical events require ongoing documentation in some easily retrievable form if they are to be relied upon by physicians and medical investigators when providing care or conducting research.