Background. The aim of the current study was to evaluate
the utility of maternal recall for obtaining
history of obstetric complications (OCs) in psychiatric research.
Methods. Obstetric information from in-depth structured
maternal interviews and from hospital
birth records was compared in 45 mothers of schizophrenic patients and
34 control mothers. Both
types of information were blindly and independently scored for OCs
using the McNeil-Sjöström OC Scale.
Results. Considerable discrepancies were observed
between interviews and records, irrespective of
maternal group. No significant differences were found between
patient and control mothers in error
type (omission, commission, total retrospective error) or recall
facility for selected events. More
errors of commission were made by mothers of patients with negative family
history than mothers
of patients with positive family history for psychiatric disorder.
Patients had significantly more OCs
than controls only when hospital record information was utilized.
Conclusions. OC history obtained by maternal recall has methodological
limitations.