Decennial Health Survey

Summary

Strengths: - The Insee is the most reliable French institute in the field of data collection and analyses; - These surveys make it possible (when data are comparable) to monitor the health of the French population over a period of 40 years; The sample size is big enough to guarantee a decent sub-sample of senior respondents (especially in 2002-03); - Linkage with the SNIIR-AM database (in 2002-03). Weaknesses: - limited comparability from one survey to the other due to changes in methodology and questionnaire; - data dictionaries and datasets are not available in English; - there won’t be another Decennial Health Survey: it is replaced by ESPS (see corresponding document).

Type of data

Data Source
Survey

Type of Study
Crosssection regular

Data gathering method
Face-to-face
Self administered questionnaire

Access to data

Conditions of access
Free downloadable files from the Centre Quételet (http://www.reseau-quetelet.cnrs.fr/spip/).

Type of available data (e.g. anonymised microdata, aggregated tables, etc.)
Individual/ household data.

Formats available
SAS

Coverage

Coverage Years of collection, reference years, and sample sizes
Wave 1: Data collected from 1960-1961 with a sample size of approximately 20,000 individuals. Wave 2: Data collected from 1970-1971 with a sample size of approximately 20,000 individuals. Wave 3: Data collected from 1980-1981 with a sample size of approximately 20,000 individuals. Wave 4: Data collected from 1991-1992 with a sample size of approximately 20,000 individuals. Wave 5: Data collected from 2002-2003 with a sample size of 17,000 households/41,000 individuals.

First year of collection
1960-61

Stratification if applicable

Base used for sampling

Geographical coverage and breakdowns
national

Age range
people aged 18 and over with a shorter questionnaire for children aged 11-17.

Statistical representativeness
Population representative

Coverage of main and cross-cutting topics
The EDS data allow for a detailed study of the topic Health & Performance, with questions dealing with perceived health, health-related behaviours (including dietary habits), health care consumption, quality of life, etc. With the 2002-03 wave, there are additional opportunities thanks to the linkage with the SNIIR-AM national database (which contains reimbursement data for health professionals visits and prescribed drugs, long-term diseases, hospital discharge records…).

Linkage

Standardisation
In 2002-03, some efforts have been made to increase the international comparability of the EDS data (with the introduction of some standard scales such as the CES-D for depression or the MOs SF-36 for quality of life. In the previous surveys, the international comparability was limited.

Possibility of linkage among databases
Linkage with the SNIIR-AM national database in 2002-03 only (it contains reimbursement data for visits to health professionals and prescribed drugs, long-term diseases, hospital discharge records…)

Data quality

Entry errors if applicable

Breaks
As the survey was conducted every ten years, there have been many small methodological changes, especially after the first wave (1960-61).

Consistency of terminology or coding used during collection
The questionnaire also substantially changed over the time.

Governance

Contact information
Lucie Gonzalez / DREES (Direction de la recherche, des études, de l’évaluation et des statistiques)
Ministère des Affaires sociales et de la Santé
14, avenue Duquesne
75350 PARIS 07 SP France Phone: (+33) 01 40 56 80 63
Email: lucie.gonzalez(at)sante.gouv.fr
Url:

Timeliness, transparency
All data are available.