title: [Health surveys in Europe. Overview and activities to harmonize the methods and instruments for comparing the data].
abstract: In almost every European country health surveys are conducted in order to describe the health status of the population and to use these data for planning health services and preventive activities. In the last 10-15 years the availability and quality of data from population-based health surveys in Europe have greatly improved, particularly in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Nevertheless the design, quality of data and the comparability across countries, nations and cultures remain a challenge. Therefore WHO and EU have started various activities to harmonize the methods and instruments in health surveys. These activities are described in this contribution.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Medizinische Soziologie und Sozialmedizin im Medizinischen Zentrum für Methodenwissenschaften und Gesundheitsforschung, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Marburg, Germany. cbormann@uni-bremen.de
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bormann
mesh_terms: D003628:Database Management Systems / Q000458:organization & administration; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005062:European Union / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006306:Health Surveys; D033181:Information Dissemination / Q000379:methods; D019451:Information Management / Q000458:organization & administration; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods*; D007391:International Cooperation; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized / Q000458:organization & administration*; D040442:Public Health Informatics