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Title: | The Belgian health examination survey: objectives, design and methods | Authors: | Diem Nguyen HAUTEKIET, Pauline Berete, Finaba Braekman, Elise Charafeddine, Rana Demarest, Stefaan Drieskens, Sabine Gisle, Lydia Hermans, Lize Tafforeau, Jean Van der Heyden, Johan |
Issue Date: | 2020 | Publisher: | BMC | Source: | ARCHIVES OF PUBLIC HEALTH, 78 (1) | Abstract: | Background In 2018 the first Belgian Health Examination Survey (BELHES) took place. The target group included all Belgian residents aged 18years and older. The BELHES was organized as a second stage of the sixth Belgian Health Interview Survey (BHIS). This paper describes the study design, recruitment method and the methodological choices that were made in the BELHES.MethodsAfter a pilot period during the first quarter of the BHIS fieldwork, eligible BHIS participants were invited to participate in the BELHES until a predefined number (n=1100) was reached. To obtain the required sample size, 4918 eligible BHIS participants had to be contacted. Data were collected at the participant's home by trained nurses. The data collection included: 1) a short set of questions through a face-to-face interview, 2) a clinical examination consisting of the measurement of height, weight, waist circumference, blood pressure and for people aged 50years and older handgrip strength and 3) a collection of blood and urine samples. The BELHES followed as much as possible the guidelines provided in the framework of the European Health Examination Survey (EHES) initiative. Finally 1184 individuals participated in the BELHES, resulting in a participation rate of 24.1%. Results for all the core BELHES measurements were obtained for more than 90% of the participants.ConclusionIt is feasible to organize a health examination survey as a second stage of the BHIS. The first successfully organized BELHES provides useful information to support Belgian health decision-makers and health professionals. As the BELHES followed EHES recommendations to a large extent, the results can be compared with those from similar surveys in other EU (European Union) member states. | Notes: | Van der Heyden, J (corresponding author), Sciensano, Dept Epidemiol & Publ Hlth, Juliette Wytsmanstr 14, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium. Johan.vanderheyden@sciensano.be |
Other: | Van der Heyden, J (corresponding author), Sciensano, Dept Epidemiol & Publ Hlth, Juliette Wytsmanstr 14, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium. Johan.vanderheyden@sciensano.be | Keywords: | Health examination survey;Belgium;Survey methodology | Document URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/1942/31813 | ISSN: | 0778-7367 | e-ISSN: | 2049-3258 | DOI: | 10.1186/s13690-020-00428-9 | ISI #: | WOS:000540031300002 | Rights: | © The Author(s). 2020 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data. | Category: | A1 | Type: | Journal Contribution | Validations: | ecoom 2021 |
Appears in Collections: | Research publications |
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