Mental health supplement to the Ontario Health Survey: methodology.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the methodology of a province-wide, cross-sectional, epidemiologic study of psychiatric disorder among those aged 15 years and over living in household dwellings in Ontario.


METHODS
Respondents for the survey were drawn from households (N = 13002) participating in a province-wide health survey. One person per household was selected, and 9953 (76.5%) participated.


RESULTS
Participants and nonparticipants were similar to each other. An extensive array of data, including measures of psychiatric disorder classified using a revised version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI), are available for all respondents.


CONCLUSIONS
The Ontario Health Supplement is contained in a public-use data file at the Ontario Ministry of Health and is available to investigators for study. A strong survey design, careful measurement, and acceptable levels of response provide the rationale for our inviting researchers to access and use the Ontario Health Supplement data base.
Boyle
M H
MH
Centre for Studies of Children at Risk, Chedoke-McMaster Hospitals, Hamilton, Ontario.
Offord
D R
DR
Campbell
D
D
Catlin
G
G
Goering
P
P
Lin
E
E
Racine
Y A
YA
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009864:Ontario; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015995:Prevalence; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012040:Regional Health Planning; D012107:Research Design; D012424:Rural Population; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population