IBGE inaugurates today, August 12, in partnership with the Ministry of Health and with the technical coordination of Fiocruz, the data collection process of the National Health Survey 2013 -PNS. By November, around 1,000 interviewers will have visited 80 thousand households in 1,600 municipalities all over the country, in order to investigate the health conditions and life style of the population. The survey also aims at producing data on the access and use of health services, prevention, continuity of care and health assistance financing.   

It is a great challenge. In order to know how health is doing in Brazil, IBGE and Fiocruz planned the survey in two steps. The first one concerns the filling out of a questionnaire which will gather information from all residents, in all visited housing units.  Besides, a resident of legal age in each one of the visited housing units will be selected to answer another questionnaire and will have his/her weight, height, waist and blood pressure measured. This resident will be randomly chosen, by palmtop computers used by the survey agents, at the moment of the interview.

As a second step, applied to 25% of the visited areas, the same resident chosen for the anthropometric measures and blood pressure tests will undergo laboratory tests of blood and urine.

The PNS data collection will start by the states of São Paulo, Mato Grosso do Sul, Goiás, Rondônia, Roraima, Amapá and Rio Grande do Sul and, in the following weeks, it is going to cover all Federation Units. The expectation is for the survey to be conducted every five years - with details in the levels: Brazil, Major Regions, Federation Units, metropolitan areas which contain municipalities of capitals and municipalities of capitals . The first results are expected to be released in 2014.

Confidentiality of the information collected by PNS is guaranted by law

It is important to highlight that all data collected by PNS, including results of laboratory tests, are protected by the confidentiality law of statistical information (Law no 5534) and can only be used for statistical purposes.

All interviewers from PNS should wear IBGE's badge and the electronic equipment for data collection (palmtops). It will also be possible to confirm the interviewer's identity by calling 0800 721 8181.  

Before going to the streets, interviewers went through training not only to apply the questionnaire correctly but also to learn how to take anthropometric measures and blood pressure. As to blood and urine tests, they will be carried out by labs accredited by the Ministry of Health.

Part of the questionnaire and anthropometric measures for just one resident per housing unit

In order to produce more refined data on the health conditions and life style of the Brazilian population, the questionnaire of the National Health Survey has the following structure: first, there are questions about the housing unit, covering, for example, water supply, possession of pets, visit of family health teams, among others. Then, the questions refer to each one of the residents in the housing unit. They address general characteristics (sex, age, marital status, among others), education, labor, income, disabilities, health insurance plan, use of health services and children's and elders' health.

At the moment of the interview, a legal age resident will be randomly selected by palmtops to answer another questionnaire covering labor, health conditions, accidents, life styles (consumption of alcoholic beverages, tobacco and physical activities, for instance), chronic diseases, women's health, prenatal care (where applicable), oral health and medical care. Anthropometric measures and blood pressure will be taken, and the interviewer will also require information - which will be kept confidential - for future contacts.

When necessary, the interviewer will come back to the housing unit in order to finish the data collection process.

Material collected at home for lab tests 

Besides the questionnaire and measures, blood and urine tests will be carried out at random in 25% of the areas visited by the IBGE agents. In the blood sample, tests for glycated hemoglobin, cholesterol, blood count, hemoglobin S and other hemoglobin, creatinine and dengue serology will be done; the dosage of sodium, potassium and creatinine will be analyzed in the urine tests. 

In the selected areas (25%), all legal age residents who had the anthropometric measures taken will also go through lab tests. The resident will be informed if he/she is part of this sampling during the interviewer's first visit. The laboratory accredited by the Ministry of Health will make a direct contact with him/her to set the day for the tests, so it is important to provide correct information for future contacts. The interviewee does not need to leave home; the material collection will be done in the housing unit; there is no need to fast either.

Once the tests are done, the selected resident will choose whether he/she wants the results by mail or on the internet.

While data are being collected for the PNS, residents with high blood pressure, abnormal lab tests, hypertensive crisis or chest pain will be advised to look for medical care service in the facilities indicated by the Ministry of Health.

Unprecedented survey to support health policies

Using answers and questions, IBGE seeks for the first time to know the relationship between the population's life style and health and to produce information on health care services in private and public systems.

PNS is part of the Integrated System of Household Surveys of IBGE (SIPD). It continues a series of investigations which have been carried out every five years, since 1998, by the National Household Sample Survey (PNAD) and its supplements on health.

Moreover, PNS will also be the basis for several public policies, as the National Plan on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Plan of Strategic Actions to Fight against Non-Transmissible Chronic Diseases, Smiling Brazil, Stork Network and others.