Instruct: Identify the main category of Medrxiv papers based on the titles and abstracts
Query: The validity and reliability of parents recall for routine Immunization in Cameroon: an evaluative study ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to determine the validity of parents recall for immunization using the vaccination card as the reference in Yaounde-Cameroon.

SettingsThis study was a communitybased study in all the 6 health districts in Yaounde, Cameroon

ParticipantsThe study targeting parents of children aged 0-59months who had their childrens vaccination cards. The immunization history of each child was taken based on both parents recall and vaccination card. Using the vaccination card as a reference, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of parents recall were calculated. The degree of agreement and the kappa statistics between the two methods were calculated using R version 4.1.0 (2021-05-18).

ResultsA total of 529 households were visited and 87 elligible parents enrolled. Approximately 55.2% of the children were girls and 53% of them were aged 12-59 months. In total, 94.25% of the participants enrolled were one of the biological parents of the children, with mothers making the majority 86.20% of participants. When combined for all vaccines, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of parents recall were 63%, 60%, 90%, and 23% respectively. The degree of agreement between the two sources was highest for BCG(94%) and lowest with Polio2(32%). Parents recall(94%) was most likely to correctly predict BCG vaccination status of a child than using the scars on the forarm(74%).

ConclusionOur conclusion is that validity and reliability of parents recall vary a lot across different vaccines and parents recall is not very reliable for immunization status assessment in children. Parents recall is preferred for verifying BCG immunization to scars on the forarm. In general, we recommend that parents recall for routine immunization should be used only as a last resort or for BCG, and measles and Yellow Fever vaccines.
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The categories of this paper are: infectious
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The categories of this paper are: epidemiology
57
The categories of this paper are: primary
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The categories of this paper are: anesthesia
51
The categories of this paper are: education
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The categories of this paper are: ethics
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The categories of this paper are: oral
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The categories of this paper are: pediatrics
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The categories of this paper are: sports
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The categories of this paper are: physical
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The categories of this paper are: emergency
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The categories of this paper are: endocrinology
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The categories of this paper are: neurology
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The categories of this paper are: aids
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The categories of this paper are: research
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The categories of this paper are: clinical