The Use of Birth Certificate Data to Reconstruct and Validate Self-Reported Birth Address in a Study of Breast Cancer and Environment

Purpose: We conducted a study comparing the location of addresses recorded on birth certificates with self-reported birth addresses provided by adults who were participants in the Western New York Exposure and Breast Cancer (WEB) Study. We also evaluated whether birth certificate residence data may be used to reconstruct missing self-reported birth residence information. Methods: Subjects were selected from WEB study participants born in Western New York State between 1920 and 1964 for whom we were able to obtain a New York State birth certificate. Addresses were geocoded and mean distance and SD between self-reported and certificate addresses were calculated. Results: Our findings indicate good agreement between self-reported and birth certificate addresses (77% are within 0.25 mile difference), and no difference in recall for cases compared with controls. Conclusions: This study provides evidence that self-reported and birth certificate-based addresses may be used together to achieve increased accuracy of historical records in early life when place of birth is used as a proxy for early life environment in relation to the development of breast cancer or other chronic diseases.