Comparison of Health Examination Survey Methods in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, England, Scotland, and the United States

Abstract

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.

Hipertensión arterial en adultos mexicanos: prevalencia, diagnóstico y tipo de tratamiento. Ensanut MC 2016

“…[21][22][23] Aunque en algunos estudios epidemiológicos se ha descrito que las mujeres tienen una menor prevalencia de HTA que los hombres, 24 en el presente análisis no se encontró una diferencia significativa entre sexos. Esto podría deberse a que en México no son tan diferentes los factores que explican la variabilidad en la prevalencia por género, como diversidad de raza, etnicidad, país de origen y presencia de obesidad.…”

Building a Data Platform for Cross-Country Urban Health Studies: the SALURBAL Study

“…The design and sampling approaches differ somewhat across countries, but all allow linkage to SALURBAL L2 units (and may in the future also allow linkages to L3 units). Some surveys are based only on self-report information, but others include objective measurements such as height, weight and blood pressure [ 35 ]. A data harmonization effort was launched to create comparable measures of selected domains.…”

Chronic kidney disease in adults aged 18 years and older in Chile: findings from the cross-sectional Chilean National Health Surveys 2009–2010 and 2016–2017

“…The sampling design and methods of data collection of the ENS 2009-2010 and 2016-2017 have been reported elsewhere, in detail in Spanish 14 15 and in summary in English. 19 Both surveys were cross-sectional study designs, with a new sample selected each time representative of the adult Chilean population at national, regional and rural/urban levels. Both were complex random samples, using multistage, stratified cluster probability sampling of households, based on the 2002 Chilean National Census.…”

“…14 15 Participants gave written consent prior to data collection, measurements and biological sampling. 19 Definition of CKD Given the cross-sectional nature of both health surveys, repeated laboratory values for the same participant were not possible, so for this study, kidney function (based on serum-creatinine eGFR), and a marker of kidney damage (based on albuminuria), were estimated relying on singlepoint-in-time measurements of serum creatinine and, where available, the urine ACR.…”