Socioeconomic questionnaire and clinical assessment in the HELENA Cross-Sectional Study: methodology

• Published in: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OBESITY Vol. 32; no. S5; pp. S19 - S25
• Main Authors: Iliescu, C, Beghin, L, Maes, L, Bourdeaudhuij, I. de, Libersa, C, Vereecken, C, Gonzalez-Gross, M, Kersting, M, Molnar, D, Leclercq, C, Sjostrom, M, Manios, Y, Wildhalm, K, Kafatos, A, Moreno, L.A, Gottrand, F
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.11.2008; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: Adolescent; adolescent nutrition; Adolescent Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; Adolescents; anthropometric measurements; Behavior; Birth Weight; Blood pressure; Breast Feeding; Breastfeeding & lactation; clinical examination; Cross-Sectional Studies; Documentation - methods; Environmental factors; Epidemiology; Europe - epidemiology; Evaluation; Feeding Behavior; Female; Health aspects; Health Promotion and Disease Prevention; health status; Health surveys; Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence Cross-Sectional Study; Heart rate; Humans; Internal Medicine; Life Style; Male; medical history; medical treatment; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Metabolic Diseases; neonatal development; Nutrition; Obesity; original-article; Parents; Pilot Projects; Public Health; questionnaires; research methods; Social aspects; Social Class; Socioeconomic factors; socioeconomic status; Socioeconomics; Surveys and Questionnaires; Teenagers; Youth; youth development; Europe; Crete; Belgium; France; Germany; questionnaires; adolescence; socioeconomic; nutrition; morbidity; adults
• ISSN: 0307-0565; 1476-5497; 1476-5497
• DOI: 10.1038/ijo.2008.178

Rationale: Environmental factors such as dietary habits, breastfeeding, socioeconomic conditions and educational factors are strong influences on nutritional and puberty status, physical activity, food choices and their interactions. Several diseases of adulthood seem to be linked to, or to originate from, lifestyle in childhood and adolescence. Objective: The aims of this study are to describe birth parameters and socioeconomic factors and to assess clinical status in adolescents aged 13-16 years from 10 European countries participating in the Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence (HELENA) Cross-Sectional Study (CSS). Methodology: A self-report questionnaire on the socioeconomic status, a parental questionnaire concerning neonatal period and also a case report form (CRF), in which clinical items during clinical examination (such as medical history, treatments, anthropometry, Tanner staging, blood pressure, heart rate) were assessed. To develop these documents, first a list of items was established, a search of existing documents was performed and the advice of local and international experts was taken. All documents (questionnaires and an operations manual) were discussed in plenary HELENA meetings; a final version of these documents was fixed, and the process of translation and back translation was performed. Results: The questionnaires and CRF were tested for validation in all 10 participant cities; 208 adolescents were enrolled during the pilot study. All items that caused problems or questions in one or more participating centers or were completed by < 85% of the adolescents were reviewed before the beginning of the HELENA-CSS. Conclusion: These final questionnaires and CRF will contribute to better understanding of the inequalities in nutrition, behavior and health in the European adolescent population. The experience and process should be useful for other multicenter studies.