Clark County selected for CDC health survey

Households will provide data, receive physicals

Clark County is one of 15 U.S. counties selected to participate in an annual federal survey on health and nutrition beginning this month, the Southern Nevada Health District announced Tuesday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) will visit about 560 randomly selected households in the county beginning Feb. 22 to gather health information from those who agree to provide it. Data gathered will be used in the design of health policies and programs.

The CDC doesn’t take volunteers — participants are selected by invitation only — but those who take part are paid up to $125 and receive free physical exams and health and nutrition evaluation reports.

“The comprehensive data collected by NHANES has a far-reaching and significant impact on everything from the quality of the air we breathe, to the vaccinations you get from your doctor, to the emergence of low-fat and “light” foods on the shelves of your grocery store,” the district said in a statement announcing the survey. It also provides updated data on obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Interviewees will be notified by mail if they are chosen to participate. Those who consent will be visited by a health team in the following weeks. That team will conduct a 45-minute to one-hour interview, a spokesman for the survey said. Among other things, participants will be asked about their health habits and will undergo a physical exam, the statement said.

The nation’s “health check-up,” as National Center for Health Statistics Director Charles J. Rothwell calls it, has collected data for 55 years and done so annually for the last 19.

Contact Jessie Bekker at jbekker@ reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4563. Follow @jessiebekks on Twitter.