Health observation compared to health reporting: findings from a pilot study in Florence.
OBJECTIVE
Both health interview surveys (HISs) and health examination surveys (HESs) are used to describe the health status of populations. In Italy, to determine the feasibility of conducting a national-level HES, a pilot HES was conducted in the city of Florence among participants of a previous national-level HIS. The aim of the present analysis was to compare the results of the two surveys.


METHODS
The study population consisted of the 343 Florence residents 35 to 74 years of age who participated in both surveys (sample drawn with probabilistic criteria). We compared the self-reported HIS data to the HES health measurements for diabetes, hypertension, osteoporosis, smoking, height, weight, and body mass index. For categorical variables, contingency tables were used, calculating symmetric and asymmetric indices. For the continuous variables, Student's t test for matched samples was used.


RESULTS
The prevalence of the most important pathologic conditions and risk factors determined with HES measurements was significantly higher than that based on self-reported HIS data.


CONCLUSIONS
The results stress that individuals have poor knowledge of their own health; therefore health measurements need to be taken.
Conti
Susanna
S
Centro Nazionale di Epidemiologia, Sorveglianza, e Promozione della Salute, Rome, Italy. susanna.conti@iss.it
Farchi
Gino
G
Minelli
Giada
G
Buiatti
Eva
E
Balzi
Daniela
D
Arniani
Stefania
S
Naldoni
Paola
P
Gargiulo
Lidia
L
Gianicolo
Emilio
E
Sabbadini
Linda Laura
LL
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006304:Health Status; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012650:Self Disclosure; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires