title: Objectives and methodology of Romanian SEPHAR II Survey. Project for comparing the prevalence and control of cardiovascular risk factors in two East-European countries: Romania and Poland.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Comparing results of representative surveys conducted in different East-European countries could contribute to a better understanding and management of cardiovascular risk factors, offering grounds for the development of health policies addressing the special needs of this high cardiovascular risk region of Europe. The aim of this paper was to describe the methodology on which the comparison between the Romanian survey SEPHAR II and the Polish survey NATPOL 2011 results is based.
  
  
  METHODS
  SEPHAR II, like NATPOL 2011, is a cross-sectional survey conducted on a representative sample of the adult Romanian population (18 to 80 years) and encompasses two visits with the following components: completing the study questionnaire, blood pressure and anthropometric measurements, and collection of blood and urine samples.
  
  
  RESULTS
  From a total of 2223 subjects found at 2860 visited addresses, 2044 subjects gave written consent but only 1975 subjects had eligible data for the analysis, accounting for a response rate of 69.06%. Additionally we excluded 11 subjects who were 80 years of age (NATPOL 2011 included adult subjects up to 79 years). Therefore, the sample size included in the statistical analysis is 1964. It has similar age groups and gender structure as the Romanian population aged 18-79 years from the last census available at the moment of conducting the survey (weight adjustments for epidemiological analyses range from 0.48 to 8.7).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Sharing many similarities, the results of SEPHAR II and NATPOL 2011 surveys can be compared by a proper statistical method offering crucial information regarding cardiovascular risk factors in a high-cardiovascular risk European region.
authors: Cardiology Department, Clinical Emergency Hospital Bucharest, University of Medicine and Pharmacy "Carol Davila", Bucharest, Romania.
authors: Maria
authors: M
authors: Dorobantu
authors: Cardiology Department, Clinical Emergency Hospital Bucharest, University of Medicine and Pharmacy "Carol Davila", Bucharest, Romania.
authors: Oana-Florentina
authors: OF
authors: Tautu
authors: Cardiology Department, University Emergency Hospital Bucharest, University of Medicine and Pharmacy "Carol Davila", Bucharest, Romania.
authors: Roxana
authors: R
authors: Darabont
authors: Internal Medicine Department, Clinical Emergency Hospital Bucharest, University of Medicine and Pharmacy "Carol Davila", Bucharest, Romania.
authors: Silviu
authors: S
authors: Ghiorghe
authors: Internal Medicine Department, Clinical Emergency Hospital Bucharest, University of Medicine and Pharmacy "Carol Davila", Bucharest, Romania.
authors: Elisabeta
authors: E
authors: Badila
authors: Public Health National Institute, Bucharest, Romania.
authors: Minca
authors: M
authors: Dana
authors: Clinical Biochemistry Department, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Târgu Mureş, Romania.
authors: Minodora
authors: M
authors: Dobreanu
authors: SynLab Romania, Bucharest, Romania.
authors: Ilarie
authors: I
authors: Baila
authors: Department of Hypertension and Diabetology, Medical University of Gdansk, Gdansk, Poland.
authors: Marcin
authors: M
authors: Rutkowski
authors: Department of Hypertension and Diabetology, Medical University of Gdansk, Gdansk, Poland.
authors: Tomasz
authors: T
authors: Zdrojewski
keywords: cardiovascular disease; cross-sectional study; epidemiology; hypertension; metabolic disorders