Validity and concordance of hypertension self-reported among elderly people

Background: The detection of the validity and concordance of self-reported hypertension (HBP) becomes necessary to increase the reliability of the reported information, given that errors in determining the prevalence of the disease can influence the quality of information and therefore the action plans of public health policies. To assess the validity and concordance of self-reported HBP in the elderly population registered by the Family Health Strategy (FHS) in a city in Northeastern Brazil. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted with individuals aged 60 or more registered in the FHS in the city of Campina Grande-PB. To check the validity and reliability of the report, the sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive (PPV) and negative values (NPV) were calculated with respect to demographic and socioeconomic variables, lifestyle and self-reported morbidity. The Kappa test was used to verify the agreement between diagnosis and disease report. Statistical application SPSS 22.0 and 5% significance level were used. Results: The study included 420 of elderly people (68.3% women). Excellent sensitivity (81.7%), specificity (98.7%), PPV (99.6%) and moderate NPV (56.0%) were observed, as well as substantial agreement of HBP report. Conclusion: This study showed validity and substantial agreement of self-reported HBP among of elderly people, suggesting that self-reported morbidity can be used as a tool for the identification of HBP prevalence, thus assisting health services in coping with the problem.