title: Reliability and validity of interview data on chronic diseases. The Mini-Finland Health Survey.
abstract: The Mini-Finland Health Survey was designed to obtain a comprehensive picture of health and of the need for care in Finnish adults, and to develop methods for monitoring health in the population as a whole. Out of a nationally representative sample of 8000 people aged 30 or over, 7217 (90%) were both interviewed at home by local public health nurses using simple open-ended questions and, independently of this interview, subsequently examined in a two-phase health examination. The estimate of chronic morbidity based on the health interview (56%) was close to the prevalence of definite somatic diseases diagnosed in the health examination (54%), and the agreement between the two methods was moderate (kappa = 0.53). The estimated prevalence of cardiovascular diseases was the same (23%) in the health interview and in the health examination; the agreement was substantial (kappa = 0.74). The prevalence of respiratory and musculoskeletal diseases and mental disorders was underestimated in the interview by 52, 25 and 78%, respectively; the agreement between results of the two methods was relatively low (kappa = 0.43, 0.38 and 0.30, respectively). These results suggest that both the health examination and the health interview methods, as used in this survey, have useful applications in monitoring the population's health.
authors.affiliation: Research Institute for Social Security of the Social Insurance Institution, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heliövaara
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aromaa
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Klaukka
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Knekt
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Joukamaa
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Impivaara
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D016014:Linear Models; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D015995:Prevalence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results