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Pasquotank County Chosen for National Health Survey

Posted on: Tuesday, 22 February 2005, 09:00 CST

BY Lauren King

THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT

ELIZABETH CITY In the next few years, residents of Pasquotank County could help shape the nations health and nutrition statistics based on their participation in a National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Starting Thursday, interviewers will begin visiting potential participants homes to determine who could qualify for the survey, which will include a formal in-home interview and a physical examination more comprehensive than a typical physical exam.

Its the best medical exam of your life, said George Zipf, chief of the operations branch for the Division of Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys.

He said tests will include eye, dental and hearing exams and a full-body scan to measure body fat and bone density. Blood will be drawn for 115 tests.

Bill Crews, a federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spokesman, said that it will take about six weeks for the interviews and exams to be completed in Pasquotank County.

Then the information will be processed and in the next two years integrated into national statistics that have been used to influence federal health policies and programs to combat conditions such as high cholesterol, obesity and birth defects.

The information can also be used to track the progress of policies and general health trends of U.S. residents.

For example, Crews said, in 1996 breads and grains were enriched with folic acid which is thought to prevent birth defects, such as spina bifida. Since then, the health surveys have been tracking the number of birth defects and have learned that the rate is lower than before the policy was enacted.

It shows that public policy is working, Crews said.

The current survey grew out of the National Health Survey Act in 1956, which authorized a census of current statistical data on the amount, distribution and effects of illness and disability in the United States.

The national survey is an effort to provide a snapshot of the U.S. populations health and nutrition. It chooses 15 communities a year, and 5,000 households in each are pre screened and asked to participate.

After the screening, Crews said, 500 people can be chosen from a community to go through the full process, with each participant representing 50,000 other U.S. residents.

Crews said that hes not sure if the survey has ever included a community in northeastern North Carolina or the Hampton Roads, Va., area, but he knows for sure that it hasnt been in the region in at least 10 years.

Pasquotank County residents may have already received letters alerting them to the survey, and interviewers will begin visiting homes this week.

The interviewer should present a photo identification badge as a representative of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, U.S. Public Health Service, Crews said.

The interviewers will first ask basic questions to determine if the person qualifies. Those who qualify will be scheduled for the formal in-home interview, which lasts about an hour and includes questions about health, disease history and diet, according to the CDC Web site.

The next step is to schedule a physical examination, which will be held at a temporary location on North Road Street in a set of four trailers. The physical exam could take more than five hours, but participants are reimbursed up to $100 for their time, transportation and baby or elder care.

The exams are done at no expense to the participant, all results will be shared with the person, and each participants name and identifying information will be kept confidential. To further protect participants, survey information will never be published on a county-by-county basis, only on a national level.

For more information about the survey, go to www.cdc.gov/nhanes/ or if you are a potential participant, call 800-452-6115 .

* Reach Lauren King at (252) 338-2413 or at lauren.king@ pilotonline.com.

Source: Virginian - Pilot

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