BACKGROUND Linking computerized health insurance records with routinely collected survey data is becoming increasingly popular in health services research. However, if consent is not universal, the requirement of written informed consent may introduce a number of research biases. The participants of a national health survey in Taiwan were asked to have their questionnaire results linked to thei...

Trends in cholesterol level of different populations have been investigated in several studies. This study is conducted to determine the trend of cholesterol level of Iranian adults from 1990 to 2007. Data on cholesterol measurements of four national health surveys that have been carried out in Iran used in this study. Cholesterol level of 12728 adults aged 25-64 were measured in 1990-1 survey....

A recent highly cited publication, using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), concluded that the prevalence of childhood hearing loss in the United States is increasing (Shargorodsky, Curan, Curhan, & Eavey, 2010). This article examines the accuracy of that conclusion based on additional data from three nationally-representative surveys of childhood health. U...

Several rounds of national health surveys have generated a vast amount of data in India since 1992. We describe and compare the key health information gathered, assess the availability of health data in the public domain, and review publications resulting from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), the District Level Household Survey (DLHS) and the Annual Health Survey (AHS). We highlight is...

According to EuroGeoSurveys, the European Geological Surveys association, “Geological spatial data and models describe the solid Earth’s surface and subsurface on-shore and off-shore, its nature, structure, properties, dynamics and evolution over time; including its related (geo)resources and (geo) hazards”. This illustrates a modern vision of the core mission that National Geological Surveys h...

OBJECTIVE To assess the status of food security--i.e., access to food, food availability and food utilization--in South Africa. METHODS A systematic search of national surveys that used the Community Childhood Hunger Identification Project (CCHIP) index to measure food security in South Africa over a period of 10 years (1999-2008) was conducted. Anthropometric data for children aged 1-9 years...

The role of cannabis and endocannabinoids in appetite regulation has been extensively studied, but the association of cannabis use with weight in the general population is not known. The authors used data from 2 representative epidemiologic studies of US adults aged 18 years or older, the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC; 2001-2002) and the National Comorb...

Bate et al [1] present stimulating work on the seroprevalence of cytomegalovirus (CMV) in the United States during 2 periods, 1988–1994 and 1999–2004, which showed that the prevalence of CMV infection remained stable between these 2 periods. Such studies are rare, and many countries clearly lack epidemiologic data. The past decade has seen numerous studies of the management and consequences of ...

OBJECTIVE The National Diet and Nutrition Surveys (NDNS) are a series of government-funded surveys of food intake, nutrient intake and nutritional status of individuals, undertaken to support nutritional policy and risk assessment. This paper summarises a review that considered the extent to which NDNS met the needs of users and suggested options for the future. The Food Standards Agency has si...