EUHSID Newsletter #2, October 2009

Work progress of EUHSID project

The EUHSID (European Health Surveys Information Database) project is actively updating the HIS/HES database with new health surveys. An inventory of health interview surveys implemented in Europe, USA, Australia and Canada in 2007 and 2008 has been conducted. All identified surveys have been listed in the EUHSID website (http://www.euhsid.org/listofsurveys.html). 

Surveys meeting the inclusion criteria will be entered in the HIS/HES database (www.iph.fgov.be/hishes). The following surveys have already been entered into the database:

*Survey in the database but not finalized yet (some information missing or not reviewed by contact person)

The HIS/HES Database User Survey

A survey was conducted among the users of the HIS/HES Database during the spring 2009. The aim was to improve the usability of the database based on the users’ feedback. The survey was successful and we would like to thank all respondents for giving us valuable comments helping us to develop the database. The summary of the results (http://www.euhsid.org/docs/Database_usersurvey.pdf) was published in June 2009 at the project website. The database users were pleased to find a large amount of health surveys conducted in EU area from one place. They also found the database very comprehensive, and the possibility to compare the surveys with the help of the database was also mentioned as one of the best features. The users had noticed that some information was missing in the database or that it was out-dated. It was also mentioned that the structure of the database is not always very user-friendly. Problems, which users encountered, will be addressed when decisions will be made on the technical development of the database. 

Examples of using the database when comparing and evaluating methodology in national surveys

At the European Survey Research Association (ESRA) 2009 conference, in Warsaw (http://www.surveymethodology.eu/media/files/warsaw/abstracts.pdf) Hanna Tolonen from THL gave a presentation on "Sampling, recruitment and participation in recent health examination surveys in Europe". Information on the sampling frames, and the proportion of selected people found not-eligible, the proportion of persons who could not be contacted, and the participation rates calculated from this information, was obtained from the European Health Surveys Information database. It was concluded that varying definition of the target population and low response rates in some of the national HESs make comparative analysis difficult.

At the same conference Stefaan Demarest from IPH spoke about “Striving for the best of both worlds: integrating EHIS questions in the Belgian Health Survey". The EHIS aims at measuring health status, life style factors and the use of health care services among EU citizens in a harmonized and highly comparable way. The EHIS is not conceived as a new, separate survey but as a standardized tool intended to be integrated in national surveys. However this can jeopardize the comparability of the results with the previous national surveys, due to changes in wording of questions and reference periods. One of the main advantages of the EHIS is the possibility to compare the EU member states and to publish results at the EU level. Although the integration of EHIS will become compulsory in 2013, it was decided to implement parts of EHIS already into the Belgian 2008 survey. Based on a pre-test, where both the current Belgian questions and the similar EHIS questions were used, evidence based decisions could be made for the development of the 2008 survey in Belgium. Provisional results of this survey show that decisive steps must still be taken for a full integration of the EHIS.

EUHSID at future conferences

A poster on the EUHSID project will be presented at the Next European Health Forum Gastein (30.9-3.10.2009, Austria, http://www.ehfg.org/index.php)

An abstract on “Challenges in obtaining comparable information about obesity in Europe” has been accepted as a poster presentation at the next EUPHA conference (25.-28.11.2009, Poland, http://www.eupha.org/site/upcoming_conference.php)

Progress in the EU Health Survey System

http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_information/dissemination/reporting/ehss_01_en.htm

The European Health Interview Survey (EHIS) has already been implemented in 17 European Union Member States. In the framework of the EUHSID project the translation procedure from national surveys hosting the EHIS questionnaire back to the English source questionnaire will be implemented. The aim of this procedure is to evaluate the comparability of the EHIS questions before the analysis of the EHIS data (wave 2008-2009). This work will also contribute to the review of the questionnaire in order to prepare the second wave planned for 2013.

The European Health Examination Survey Reference Centre (EHES RC) is established with the support from the European Commission, DG Sanco for the two year period 2009-2011. The EHES RC is responsible of the overall coordination of the EHES pilot. It will also maintain and further develop of the EHES standards, organize training, and provide support for the national survey organizers. A data transfer, quality control and reporting system for the EHES will be developed. The EHES RC will also prepare, in close collaboration with the national experts, HES manuals for all European Union Member States.

Information about other population health surveys

The European health surveys may benefit from comparisons with major health surveys conducted in other countries. Here is some recent information about important surveys. Some of them will be entered in the HIS/HES database. 

The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), USA

NHANES is a program of studies designed to assess the health and nutritional status of adults and children in the United States. The latest NHANES entered to the HIS/HES database is from the year 2003. The new survey will be entered into the database during this year. For more information on the NHANES, see http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes.htm

The National HIS (NHIS), USA

The latest national HIS from the USA in the HIS/HES database is from the year 2006. Detailed results from the 2007 survey are available, for example on costs of complementary and alternative medicine, vaccination coverage, physical limitations among adults aged 50 years and over, and health insurance coverage, as well as an early release of selected estimates based on NHIS 2008. For more details, see http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis/new_nhis.htm

Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), USA

Data and documentation for 2008 are available on: http://www.cdc.gov/brfss/

Generations and Gender Survey (GGP), United Nations

The domains covered by the survey include economic aspects of life, intergenerational relationships, gender relationships, household composition and housing, social networks, health and reproductive health. By including all these topics, the GGP covers the important societal aspects of demographic choices in contemporary developed societies. More information on: http://www.unece.org/pau/ggp/Welcome.html.

Health Indicators and health data in international databases

Information on the European Health Indicators is available at the ECHIM website http://www.echim.org/indicators.html.

Updated versions of the Who Health for All (HFA) database (http://data.euro.who.int/hfadb/) and the OECD Health Data (http://www.ecosante.fr/) have been recently published.