What is EHES?
European Health Examination Survey (EHES) is a collaboration between organizers
of national health examination surveys (HES) in Europe. EHES supports capacity
building in the EU Member States and aims to ensure high quality and
comparability of the surveys.
HESs include questionnaire(s) as well as physical measurements, such as
blood pressure, and collection of biological samples, such as blood or urine. Initially,
EHES focused on a number of core measurements related
to major chronic diseases and their risk factors, and has later provided standardized
procedures also for some tests of physical functioning. For other measurements, EHES
provides references to existing standards and encourages collaboration between the
survey organizers.
Why are HESs needed?
Information about the health and health risks of the population is one of the
corner-stones of prevention of disease and disability. It is needed for evidence
informed planning and evaluation of health policies and preventive activities.
Health and health risks, which predict future health, are key issues for
people's welfare, for keeping the work force fit and to minimize the
need for health care for the aging population.
Some population level information, such as mortality, can be obtained from
registries. Some can be obtained from interview surveys, such as the European
Health Interview Survey (EHIS), which is coordinated by Eurostat. HESs complement
registries and interview surveys by providing information on major public health
problems which cannot be obtained objectively or at all from other sources.
Examples of such health problems are high blood pressure, unfavourable blood
cholesterols and high blood glucose, which is an indicator of diabetes. Population
level information on these cannot be obtained from other data sources because
many people have these conditions without being aware of having them.
Why is EHES needed?
In the background is a demand by countries and the European Commission for reliable
information about the health and health risks of the population which is comparable between
countries and over time within countries. The only way to achieve this is through joint
quality assurance which includes standardized survey procedures, training, external quality
assessment and collaboration in reporting. In addition to these, EHES has an important role
in sharing experiences between countries, which is particularly important for countries
with little earlier experience on national HESs and for countries adding new measurement to their HESs.
Kuulasmaa K, Tolonen H (Prepared). What is EHES and why is it needed? National
Institute for Health and Welfare, 2013. Discussion_Paper 2013_007. URN:ISBN: 978-952-245-844-5,
URL: http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-245-844-5 for more information.
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