Nutrition and Health Survey in Taiwan (NAHSIT) 1993-1996: Design, Contents, and Operations

Abstract

The purpose of Nutrition and Health Survey in Taiwan (1993-1996) was to monitor the nutritional status, health status, life-styles, and health and nutrition related knowledge/attitude/practice in the whole population and in various age, sex, geographical, and ethnic groups. A multi-staged, stratified, clustered probability sampling scheme was used. There were seven strata: Hakka area; mountainous area; east coast; Peng-Hu islands; metropolitan areas; provincial cities and class I townships; and c1ass II rural townships. Within each stratum, 3 townships or city districts were selected. And within each township or city district, 3 villages or city blocks were selected. The survey was carried out in 63 villages or city blocks in a season-balanced manner. Within each village or city block, 80 men and 80 women were sampled with designated numbers in each of the age (4-6, 7-12, 13-15, 16-18, 19-44, 45-64, 65+) and sex group. The target number was 10,080. The final sample size was 9,962. Response rate for household visit was 74%. For those who were interviewed, response rate for health examination was 65%. Operations of the survey were carried out by 3 groups of personnel (1) a scouting team, (2) two survey teams, and (3) a health examination team, quality control officers, and coordinator in the coordination center. Field work lasted for 3 weeks in each village. Health examination was scheduled on the 3rd and the 4th Sunday. The survey consisted of two parts. The diet and nutrition component included interviews on 24-hour recall, food frequency, nutrient supplements, vegetarian diet, and nutrition-related knowledge/attitude/practice (KAP), and measurements on nutritional biochemical indicators. The health component included questionnaires on lifestyles and disease symptoms and history and measurements on blood pressure, electrocardiogram, clinical chemistry, oral glucose tolerance test, and anthropometry.