Prevalence of Chronic Diseases in Older Italians: Comparing Self-Reported and Clinical Diagnoses THE ITALIAN LONGITUDINAL STUDY ON AGING WORKING GROUP*

(67.3% versus 59.4%), heart failure (7.3% versus 5.4%) and dementia (7.2% versus 5.3%). No gender difference was found for stroke, angina, diabetes, Parkinsonism and distal symmetric neuropathy. Unreported diagnoses accounted for 85% of cases of distal symmetric neuropathy, for more than half the cases of cardiac failure, for 40% of cases of angina, and for more than one-third of cases of arrhythmia, myocardial infarction, peripheral artery disease, hypertension, Parkinsonism. Data from the phase 1 interview showed substantial overreporting for myocardial infarction, peripheral artery disease, diabetes, and stroke. Conclusions. The authors conclude that self-reported information would lead to inaccurate estimates of prevalence rates suggesting the need for including the clinical ascertainment in any population-based epidemiological study.