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.