TY - JOUR
T1 - Comparison of Health Examination Survey Methods in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, England, Scotland, and the United States
AU - Mindell, Jennifer S.
AU - Moody, Alison
AU - Vecino-Ortiz, Andres I.
AU - Alfaro, Tania
AU - Frenz, Patricia
AU - Scholes, Shaun
AU - Gonzalez, Silvia A.
AU - Margozzini, Paula
AU - De Oliveira, Cesar
AU - Sanchez Romero, Luz Maria
AU - Alvarado, Andres
AU - Cabrera, Sebastián
AU - Sarmiento, Olga L.
AU - Triana, Camilo A.
AU - Barquera, Simón
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was partially funded by a Santander Research Catalyst Grant from UCL to enable J.S.M. and S.S. to attend a 2-day workshop in Santiago to work on the study, but this study was not otherwise funded. J.S.M., A.M., and S.S. are funded in part by the NHS Digital to work on the Health Survey for England. C.d.O. is funded by the National Institute on Aging and a consortium of UK government departments to work on the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA). L.M.S.R. was funded by a PhD studentship from the National Council on Science and Technology of Mexico (CONACYT) PhD scholarship (reference 217523). O.L.S., S.G., and A.I.V. were funded by the Research Office at the Universidad de los Andes. C.T. was funded by the grant for young researchers from Colciencias. We thank the Chilean Ministry of Health for organizing and funding a seminar to explore similarities and differences between many of the surveys presented in this paper, We also thank the participants in, the field staff for, and the funders and commissioners of the 8 surveys, including the Ministries and other government agencies of the countries that commissioned these surveys. The results and opinions expressed in this paper are the sole responsibility of the authors. Neither any of these funders nor the Ministries and other government agencies of the countries that commissioned these surveys, were involved with this study or with this manuscript, including the decision to undertake this study, data collection and interpretation, writing the paper, or the decision to submit it for publication. The authors affirm they have not entered into an agreement with any of the funders that may have limited their ability to complete the research as planned. The authors further affirm that they have had full control of all primary data. J.S.M. and S.S. report grants from University College London, funded by Santander, during the conduct of the study. J.S.M., S.S., and A.M. report grants from the Health and Social Care Information Centre, outside the submitted work. The other authors report no conflicts.
PY - 2017/9/15
Y1 - 2017/9/15
N2 - Comparability of population surveys across countries is key to appraising trends in population health. Achieving this requires deep understanding of the methods used in these surveys to examine the extent to which the measurements are comparable. In this study, we obtained detailed protocols of 8 nationally representative surveys from 2007-2013 from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, the United Kingdom (England and Scotland), and the United States-countries that that differ in economic and inequity indicators. Data were collected on sampling frame, sample selection procedures, recruitment, data collection methods, content of interview and examination modules, and measurement protocols. We also assessed their adherence to the World Health Organization's "STEPwise Approach to Surveillance" framework for population health surveys. The surveys, which included half a million participants, were highly comparable on sampling methodology, survey questions, and anthropometric measurements. Heterogeneity was found for physical activity questionnaires and biological samples collection. The common age range included by the surveys was adults aged 18-64 years. The methods used in these surveys were similar enough to enable comparative analyses of the data across the 7 countries. This comparability is crucial in assessing and comparing national and subgroup population health, and to assisting the transfer of research and policy knowledge across countries.
AB - Comparability of population surveys across countries is key to appraising trends in population health. Achieving this requires deep understanding of the methods used in these surveys to examine the extent to which the measurements are comparable. In this study, we obtained detailed protocols of 8 nationally representative surveys from 2007-2013 from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, the United Kingdom (England and Scotland), and the United States-countries that that differ in economic and inequity indicators. Data were collected on sampling frame, sample selection procedures, recruitment, data collection methods, content of interview and examination modules, and measurement protocols. We also assessed their adherence to the World Health Organization's "STEPwise Approach to Surveillance" framework for population health surveys. The surveys, which included half a million participants, were highly comparable on sampling methodology, survey questions, and anthropometric measurements. Heterogeneity was found for physical activity questionnaires and biological samples collection. The common age range included by the surveys was adults aged 18-64 years. The methods used in these surveys were similar enough to enable comparative analyses of the data across the 7 countries. This comparability is crucial in assessing and comparing national and subgroup population health, and to assisting the transfer of research and policy knowledge across countries.
KW - Great Britain
KW - Mexico
KW - South America
KW - United States
KW - epidemiologic measurements
KW - health status indicators
KW - health surveys
KW - population surveillance
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U2 - 10.1093/aje/kwx045
DO - 10.1093/aje/kwx045
M3 - Article
C2 - 28486584
AN - SCOPUS:85029714921
SN - 0002-9262
VL - 186
SP - 648
EP - 658
JO - American Journal of Epidemiology
JF - American Journal of Epidemiology
IS - 6
ER -