Comparison of Two Symptom Questionnaires

Abstract

In epidemiological studies of chronic bronchitis it is important that the technique of symptomatic inquiry should be standardized,1 so that the results of different investigators in different populations may be compared. During recent years considerable experience has been gained of the use for this purpose of questionnaires about respiratory symptoms completed at one interview with each subject.2'3'4 In the United Kingdom the Medical Research Council's (MRC) Respiratory Symptoms Questionnaire, was developed in 1960.5 As part of the National Coal Board's Pneumoconiosis Field Research (PFR)6 a short questionnaire about respiratory symptoms has, since 1958, been included in the standard medical examination.7 To date, the PFR Questionnaire has been asked of some 30,000 working coal miners, comprising about 95 per cent of the labor force employed at 25 collieries. The selected collieries are situated throughout the main British coal fields and the answers given are potentially useful for comparing coal workers with other populations. As there are appreciable differences between the form of the two questionnaires and the way in which they are applied, it was decided to carry out a field trial on a population of coal workers to establish a basis of comparison.