Warning: fopen(/home/virtual/epih/journal/upload/ip_log/ip_log_2024-03.txt): failed to open stream: Permission denied in /home/virtual/lib/view_data.php on line 83 Warning: fwrite() expects parameter 1 to be resource, boolean given in /home/virtual/lib/view_data.php on line 84 A study on the validity of vasectomy status for both the husband vasectomized and his spouse
Skip Navigation
Skip to contents

Epidemiol Health : Epidemiology and Health

OPEN ACCESS
SEARCH
Search

Articles

Page Path
HOME > Epidemiol Health > Volume 6(1); 1984 > Article
Original Article A study on the validity of vasectomy status for both the husband vasectomized and his spouse
Joung Soon Kim, Yong Heo, Jin Soo Lee, I-cheng Chi
Epidemiol Health 1984;6(1):54-61
DOI: https://doi.org/
  • 5,127 Views
  • 34 Download
  • 0 Crossref
  • 0 Scopus

The objective of this study is to validate the vasectomy status reported by both the husband vasectomized and his spouse prior to the main epidemiological study of cardiovascular diseases in Korean men with special concern for vasectomy as a risk factor of the disease. The study was carried out in Choonchun city and Chunseong county which have been served by the Community Health Program of Seoul National University for more than ten years. The records of vasectomy for the men living in these areas have been kept accurate by the local family planning association since 1972 providing an unique opportunity for this type of study. With assistance of the community health program staff, the list of vasectomized subjects including the address was obtained from the family planning association. The total number of eligibles were 512 in Choonchun city and 142 in Chunseong county. The principle of sample selection was based on the longer duration since the vasectomy among eligibles who were available for the interview. Fifty couples from Choonchun city and fifty couples from Chunseong county were selected for the study and matched by their neighborhood control couples for whom the husbands were not vasectomized. Starting from the December of 1983, ten MPH students, five male-female pairs visited these 200 couples home and interviewed. The husbands and wives were interviewed at the same time but separately by the same sex interviewer to avoid communication barrier between the interviewees and interviewers, and the bias that could occur due to opinion exchange between the husband and wife prior to the interview. The results obtained are as followings: 1. The mean age at the time of vasectomy was 34.4±5.0 years while the age at the time of interview was 42.9±5.9 years with about 8 years of duration from the vasectomy to the interview. The duration of marriage till the vasectomy was 8.8 years average 2. In reporting of vasectomy status, the sensitivity and the sensitivity were 0.99 and 1.0 respectively in both husbands and wives. Kappa, an index value of agreement between husband and wife on vasectomy status, was also 0.99. The agreement rate between the year recorded and the year stated on the year of vasectomy was 36.4% in husband and 31.0% in wife. The agreement rate, however, within two year difference between recorded and stated year of vasectomy was 79.2% in husband and 84.4% in wife. These agreement rates were lower than that of the year of marriage (p < 0.01) 3. In multiple regression analysis using the duration since the vasectomy recorded (A) as dependent variable and the duration stated (B), age (C), level of education (D) as independent variables, the coefficient of determination (R2) was the higher when they were transformed to natural logarithm. The regression models duration of vasectomy from the data provided by interview are as follows: LNA(husband) = -0.199+0.760LNB+0.144LNC+0.101LND :R2=0.57 LNA(wife) = 1.311+0.725LNB-0.203LNC :R2=0.54 The scatergram between the records duration and the estimated duration by the model fitted better than the duration stated, when 20 samples randomly selected from the data were tried. (This study was supported by the Family Health International, Research Triangle Park, N.C.)


Epidemiol Health : Epidemiology and Health