QUALITY DECLARATION - SUMMARY
INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT
For information on the institutional environment of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), including the legislative obligations of the ABS, financing and governance arrangements, and mechanisms for scrutiny of ABS operations, please see ABS Institutional Environment.
RELEVANCE
National Health Surveys (NHS) have been run at varying intervals since 1989-90. The NHS is currently being conducted as a regular triennial survey. The aims of the survey are to obtain national benchmark information on a range of health issues, enable trends in health to be monitored over time and provide information on health indicators for national health priority areas and for important subgroups of the population.
The prevalence of obesity has become a major issue of concern in the health of Australians. Excess body weight contributes to medical risk for conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. 'Overweight and Obesity in Adults' provides an analysis of adults according to their body weight classification.
TIMELINESS
Data for the 2004-05 National Health Survey was collected from August 2004 to June 2005. The first data was released in February 2006 in '2004-05 National Health Survey: Summary of Results, Australia' (cat. no. 4364.0) and 'National Health Survey: Summary of Results, State Tables' (cat. no. 4362.0). Detailed data was released in both Basic and Expanded Confidentialised Unit Record Files in May 2006.
Further analysis has been undertaken on the 2004-05 National Health Survey, with a number of 'snapshot' articles published in 2006 and 2007.
ACCURACY
Estimates from the NHS are subject to two types of error - sampling error and non-sampling error. Information on data quality and interpretation are published in 'National Health Survey: Users' Guide 2004-05' (cat. no. 4363.0.55.001), which is published for each NHS conducted.
Overweight and obesity is measured using the Body Mass Index, a score calculated using height and weight measurements. In 2004-05, these scores were calculated using self-reported data from the NHS. These data may differ from those obtained for the same person if actual physical measurements had been taken. Respondents who did not provide their height and weight are excluded from the publication.
COHERENCE
The comparability of NHS data over time differs between topics and between surveys. General pointers to comparability are published in the Users Guide released following each survey.
Numbers used in 'Overweight and Obesity in Adults' are as published in '2004-05 National Health Survey: Summary of Results, Australia'. Proportions may differ to those published in '2004-05 National Health Survey: Summary of Results, Australia' and 'Changes in Health: A snapshot' (cat. no. 4834.0.55.001) where respondents who did not provide their height and weight were included in some calculations of proportions.
INTERPRETABILITY
To allow for the effect of changes in the age structure of the adult population over time, comparisons made between different time periods have had their proportions age standardised, except where they are presented by age group.
ACCESSIBILITY
Please see the Related Information tab for the list of products that are available from the National Health Survey.
Quality Declaration 
Print Page
Print All