Health surveys to be conducted in OC

Photo: The Center for Disease Control and Prevention along with other agencies will conduct a health survey of Orange County from October 30, 2018 through January 21, 2019. Trailers like these are called Mobile Examination Centers and will be used for household interviews and standardized medical examinations. They will be house at Baptist Orange Hospital.

Courtesy Photo

David Ball

For The Record

If you see Center for Disease Control and Prevention equipment and trailers set up at Baptist Orange Hospital next week, or there people going door to door in neighborhoods, don't be alarmed. You're not in a science fiction movie.

The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is conducting a major study of the health of persons living in the United States, according to a press release. Orange County has been selected as one of the survey locations during the current National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). The survey that will be used to gather information to assess the health and nutrition status of children and adults and their needs for health care.

This survey is part of the DHHS continuing study of the nation’s health. For more than 55 years, similar surveys have been conducted on various segments of the U.S. population. They have provided the agency with data on health conditions and concerns in this country. Data are collected through household interviews and standardized medical examinations in their Mobile Examination Center (MEC).

Their personnel will be conducting the survey in Orange County from October 30, 2018 through January 21, 2019. A sample of about 503 people will be asked to participate in the survey. Interviewers will be calling on designated households throughout the area. They will obtain the demographic information used to identify and select people for the examination. Examinations at the MEC will be conducted from November 27, 2018 through January 20, 2019 with 20 persons being examined per day.

Examinations are conducted at their MEC which consists of four specially designed trailers which are linked together to form a single unit. These trailers are then connected to water, sanitary sewer, electricity and telecommunication for the approximate two month period.

The diseases, medical conditions, and health indicators to be studied include:

• • Anemia
• • Body composition and bone density
• • Cardiovascular diseases
• • Diabetes
• • Environmental exposures
• • Infectious diseases
• • Kidney diseases

• Nutrition

• • Obesity
• • Oral health
• • Physical activity and physical functioning
• • Reproductive history and sexual behavior
• • Respiratory diseases (asthma, chronic bronchitis, emphysema)
• • Sexually transmitted diseases

The sample for the survey is selected to represent the U.S. population of all ages. To produce reliable statistics, NHANES over samples people 60 and over, African Americans, Asians, and Hispanics.