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Assessing comparability of dressing disability in different countries by response conversion.
S van Buuren1, S Eyres, A Tennant
1TNO Prevention and Health, Leiden, The Netherlands. S.vanBuuren@pg.tno.nl
European Journal of Public Health
|October 10, 2003
Summary
Response conversion is a new method to improve health data comparability across European countries. This technique scales data onto a common scale, enabling consistent comparisons, but requires a conversion key for implementation.
Area of Science:
- Health monitoring
- Data comparability
- European health data
Background:
- Health data comparability is a significant challenge for the European Commission's Health Monitoring Programme.
- Variations in survey question wording often hinder consistent data interpretation across different regions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce and evaluate response conversion as a method for enhancing health data comparability.
- To enable scaled comparisons of health data across European member states.
Main Methods:
- Response conversion involves scaling existing data onto a common, standardized scale.
- A conversion key, requiring sufficient overlapping data, is constructed once.
- Data transformation is performed using the key, allowing for routine updates.
Main Results:
- The response conversion method was applied to dressing disability data from five European countries.
- Observed differences in dressing disability varied between countries, sexes, and age groups.
- The magnitude of these differences was found to be similar across these demographic factors.
Conclusions:
- Response conversion offers a novel approach to improve the comparability of existing health datasets.
- The availability of a conversion key is essential for applying this data transformation technique.
- Further research is needed to fully establish response conversion, with potential implications for the Health Monitoring Programme.