Agreement between self‐reported antihypertensive drug use and pharmacy records in a population‐based study in The Netherlands

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Abstract
From 1987 to 1991, over 36,000 men and women aged 20‐59 years have been examined in the Monitoring Project on Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors in The Netherlands. Classification of the treatment status of hypertensives in this population‐based study was based on self‐administered questionnaires. In order to assess the accuracy of self‐reported antihypertensive drug use we compared the questionnaire information with computerized pharmacy records from a sample of 372 hypertensive subjects. Most antihypertensive drugs that were mentioned in the questionnaire were present in the pharmacy medication history (93%). However, this percentage was less (76%) when a comparison was made with the calculated duration of use based on the number of units prescribed and the directions for use in the pharmacy records. About 94% of the hypertensive subjects who were using an antihypertensive drug according to the pharmacy records, also mentioned at least one antihypertensive drug in the questionnaire. Agreement between self‐reported antihypertensive drug use and pharmacy records was consistently high for all classes of antihypertensive drugs. Among 321 (86%) subjects, the number and types of self‐reported antihypertensive drugs were exactly the same as in the pharmacy records. In conclusion, the agreement between self‐reported antihypertensive drug use and pharmacy records was high, and the self‐reported questionnaire information on antihypertensive drug use can be reliably used for the classification of treatment status of hypertensive subjects in this population‐based study.