Sample selection, recruitment and participation rates in health examination surveys in Europe – experience from seven national surveys

Table 5 Changes in age-standardized national survey participation rates between 1998–2002 to 2010–2012 among 35–64 years old

Sex	Country^a	Survey	Survey year		Blood pressure consent rate (%)		Average annual change in consent rate^b
Sex	Country^a	Survey	Year 1	Year 2	Year 1	Year 2	Absolute change pa^c (pp pa)	% change pa^d (% pa)
Men	Finland	FINRISK	2002	2012	62	55	−0.7	−1.1
	Germany	BGS98/DEGS	1998	2008-2011	61	49	−1.1	−1.9
	Netherlands	MORGEN / NLdeMaat Phase II	1993-1997^e	2010^f	40	39	−0.0	−0.1
	England^g	HSE	2001	2011	70	55	−1.5	−2.1
Women	Finland	FINRISK	2002	2012	72	62	−1.0	−1.4
	Germany	BGS98/DEGS	1998	2008-2011	61	47	−1.3	−2.2
	Netherlands	MORGEN / NLdeMaat Phase II	1993-1997^e	2010^f	48	47	−0.1	−0.1
	England^g	HSE	2001	2011	77	65	−1.2	−1.6

^aAlthough each country studied had conducted at least two HESs, comparable data with the most recent survey were not available for the OEC (1998–2002) in Italy, SLAN 1997 in Ireland, and SHeS 1998 in Scotland; these countries have therefore been omitted from this table
^bWhere the survey was conducted over more than one year, the mean number of years from or to the midpoint of the survey was used
^cMean annual change in absolute response rate = (Rate for Year2 – Rate for Year1) / Number of years; pp pa: percentage points per annum
^dMean annual percentage change = (Rate for Year2 – Rate for Year1) *100 / (Rate for Year1 * Number of years)
^eAge group 30–59; MORGEN-project, Amsterdam/Maastricht
^fNLdeMaat phase 2: Age group 30–59, to permit comparison with results from MORGEN
^gAmong participants in co-operating households

ISSN: 1471-2288