A comparative analysis between the HEPRO survey and the European Social Survey shows some similarities in data on perceived health and chronic activity restriction.

Data on perceived health and chronic activity restriction has been collected on a cross national basis from a number of European countries through the HEPRO survey and European Social survey ESS).  A comparison of results from the two surveys contributes to an assessment of the quality of the two surveys.

The comparison is done by former head of research at the Danish Institute for Public Health, Mr Niels Kr. Rasmussen.

-   The main conclusion regarding perceived health is that the results from the two surveys in Denmark, Norway, Poland and Estonia seem to corroborate each other, both regarding the age related differences and the differences between the countries – Denmark and Norway on the one side and Poland and Estonia on the other side, says Rasmussen.

This similarity supports the findings in HEPRO. The European Social Survey is a well regarded survey which covers over 30 nations.

-   There is a tendency towards the level of good perceived health decreasing with increasing age, and that this tendency is much more pronounced in Estonia and Poland, than in Denmark and Norway. Regarding the comparison of the prevalence of activity restriction, however, it should be born in mind that differences probably to a large extent are due to the difference in the formulation of the question. In general, the comparison of the two surveys regarding activity restrictions should be made with some caution as the formulation of the question and the answer categories are somewhat different in the two surveys. The number of answer categories is also different, says Rasmussen.

Download the comparison (pdf)