National Center for Health Statistics surveyed Hampton Roads

So, you’re skimming a health-related news article, and you read a sentence that goes something like these:

• “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 16 percent of American children are obese.”
• “According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, osteoporosis is on the rise among American women age 60 and over.”

Did you ever wonder where they get those statistics? Well, this year they’re getting them from Hampton Roads.

The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey visited Hampton Roads area this year. The area was randomly chosen as one of 15 areas in the country to participate in the survey, and the NHANES trailers were in Hampton Roads from March 16 through May 13. For more information on NHANES, visit www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes.htm.

The survey is a major program of the National Center for Health Statistics, which is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. NHANES is one of the primary sources of vital health statistics used to shape public health policy, design health programs and develop standards used by physicians worldwide.

The survey attempts to replicate the U.S. population by interviewing about 7,000 individuals.

In Hampton Roads, the study sampled 458 households. About 380 people were identified to participate, and more than 200 had already been interviewed by May 4th.


excerpts from an article by Tracy Agnew of the Suffolk News-Herald, originally published on May 4, 2009