Who underreports smoking on birth records: a Monte Carlo predictive model with validation.

<h4>Background</h4>Research has shown that self-reports of smoking during pregnancy may underestimate true prevalence. However, little is known about which populations have higher rates of underreporting. Availability of more accurate measures of smoking during pregnancy could greatly en...

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Main Authors: Thomas G Land, Anna S Landau, Susan E Manning, Jane K Purtill, Kate Pickett, Lauren Wakschlag, Vanja M Dukic
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2012-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0034853&type=printable
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author Thomas G Land
Anna S Landau
Susan E Manning
Jane K Purtill
Kate Pickett
Lauren Wakschlag
Vanja M Dukic
author_facet Thomas G Land
Anna S Landau
Susan E Manning
Jane K Purtill
Kate Pickett
Lauren Wakschlag
Vanja M Dukic
author_sort Thomas G Land
collection DOAJ
description <h4>Background</h4>Research has shown that self-reports of smoking during pregnancy may underestimate true prevalence. However, little is known about which populations have higher rates of underreporting. Availability of more accurate measures of smoking during pregnancy could greatly enhance the usefulness of existing studies on the effects of maternal smoking offspring, especially in those populations where underreporting may lead to underestimation of the impact of smoking during pregnancy.<h4>Methods and findings</h4>In this paper, we develop a statistical Monte Carlo model to estimate patterns of underreporting of smoking during pregnancy, and apply it to analyze the smoking self-report data from birth certificates in the state of Massachusetts. Our results illustrate non-uniform patterns of underreporting of smoking during pregnancy among different populations. Estimates of likely underreporting of smoking during pregnancy were highest among mothers who were college-educated, married, aged 30 years or older, employed full-time, and planning to breastfeed. The model's findings are validated and compared to an existing underreporting adjustment approach in the Maternal and Infant Smoking Study of East Boston (MISSEB).<h4>Conclusions</h4>The validation results show that when biological assays are not available, the Monte Carlo method proposed can provide a more accurate estimate of the smoking status during pregnancy than self-reports alone. Such methods hold promise for providing a better assessment of the impact of smoking during pregnancy.
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spelling doaj-art-7fbdeab53efa4209a09b01d07067293f2025-08-20T03:45:44ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032012-01-0174e3485310.1371/journal.pone.0034853Who underreports smoking on birth records: a Monte Carlo predictive model with validation.Thomas G LandAnna S LandauSusan E ManningJane K PurtillKate PickettLauren WakschlagVanja M Dukic<h4>Background</h4>Research has shown that self-reports of smoking during pregnancy may underestimate true prevalence. However, little is known about which populations have higher rates of underreporting. Availability of more accurate measures of smoking during pregnancy could greatly enhance the usefulness of existing studies on the effects of maternal smoking offspring, especially in those populations where underreporting may lead to underestimation of the impact of smoking during pregnancy.<h4>Methods and findings</h4>In this paper, we develop a statistical Monte Carlo model to estimate patterns of underreporting of smoking during pregnancy, and apply it to analyze the smoking self-report data from birth certificates in the state of Massachusetts. Our results illustrate non-uniform patterns of underreporting of smoking during pregnancy among different populations. Estimates of likely underreporting of smoking during pregnancy were highest among mothers who were college-educated, married, aged 30 years or older, employed full-time, and planning to breastfeed. The model's findings are validated and compared to an existing underreporting adjustment approach in the Maternal and Infant Smoking Study of East Boston (MISSEB).<h4>Conclusions</h4>The validation results show that when biological assays are not available, the Monte Carlo method proposed can provide a more accurate estimate of the smoking status during pregnancy than self-reports alone. Such methods hold promise for providing a better assessment of the impact of smoking during pregnancy.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0034853&type=printable
spellingShingle Thomas G Land
Anna S Landau
Susan E Manning
Jane K Purtill
Kate Pickett
Lauren Wakschlag
Vanja M Dukic
Who underreports smoking on birth records: a Monte Carlo predictive model with validation.
PLoS ONE
title Who underreports smoking on birth records: a Monte Carlo predictive model with validation.
title_full Who underreports smoking on birth records: a Monte Carlo predictive model with validation.
title_fullStr Who underreports smoking on birth records: a Monte Carlo predictive model with validation.
title_full_unstemmed Who underreports smoking on birth records: a Monte Carlo predictive model with validation.
title_short Who underreports smoking on birth records: a Monte Carlo predictive model with validation.
title_sort who underreports smoking on birth records a monte carlo predictive model with validation
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0034853&type=printable
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