The federal government has chosen Sacramento as one of 15 counties this year to provide an in-depth portrait of the nation's nutrition levels and overall health.
Starting Thursday and continuing through April 1, a survey team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will interview and examine carefully-selected residents on their health, beliefs and behaviors.
The survey "serves as the nation's health checkup, going into communities to get health information throughout the country," CDC director Thomas Frieden said in a statement. "The survey is a unique resource for health information, and without it we would lack important knowledge about major health conditions."
The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey aims to capture data the will identify health issues and help the government develop policies and programs to address them. It helps the CDC understand more about how personal characteristics like attitudes, beliefs and cultural background can influence health outcomes.
The information also becomes the basis for standard growth charts used by pediatricians to determine how a child's size measures up against the norm.
For the first time, this year a new section of the survey will address the national epidemic of childhood obesity by looking closely at fitness and health among children and adolescents.
Residents participate by invitation only. The CDC selects them through a complex formula based on U.S. Census data, the goal being to recruit a group that represents the U.S. population as a whole.
The surveyors first interview participants in their homes and then give them a health examination in one of the project's mobile trailers. Respondents receive no direct medical care, but they get a report on their exam results and compensation for their time of up to $125 for adults. Individual people's results and responses are kept confidential.
The survey has visited Sacramento before, though for confidentiality reasons the CDC does not disclose when.
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