Use of multiple informant data as a predictor in psychiatric epidemiology

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Abstract
Multiple informant reports of psychopathology are often collected in studies of psychiatric epidemiology. Previous reports have primarily focused on methods for handling multiple informant information when it is used to measure a psychiatric outcome in a regression model. Here we deal with methods for incorporating multiple informant reports as predictor variables (covariates) in regression modelling. In general, there is no single appropriate analytic strategy in this setting. Approaches seen in the literature include separate analyses by informant, inclusion of both reports in the model, or combination of the reports (using the ‘OR’ rule or use of concordant reports). Other approaches include use of measurement error models and latent class analysis. We review these approaches, discuss their relative advantages and disadvantages and illustrate them with an example where dichotomous reports of psychopathology are used to predict mental health service utilization in a community‐based sample. Copyright © 1999 Whurr Publishers, Ltd.