Public Health
Volume 120, Issue 4 , Pages 297-308 , April 2006

Non-response in a survey of cardiovascular risk factors in the Dutch population: Determinants and resulting biases

  • H.C. Boshuizen

      Affiliations

    • Department of Information Technology and Methodology, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, P.O. Box 1, 3720 BA Bilthoven, The Netherlands
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Tel.: +31 30 274 2944; fax: +31 30 274 4456.
  • ,
  • A.L. Viet

      Affiliations

    • Department of Prevention and Healthcare Research, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, The Netherlands
  • ,
  • H.S.J. Picavet

      Affiliations

    • Department of Prevention and Healthcare Research, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, The Netherlands
  • ,
  • A. Botterweck

      Affiliations

    • Statistics Netherlands, Division of Social and Spatial Statistics, Statistical Analysis, Heerlen, The Netherlands
  • ,
  • A.J.M. van Loon

      Affiliations

    • Department of Prevention and Healthcare Research, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, The Netherlands

Received 4 November 2004 ,Revised 4 July 2005 ,Accepted 26 September 2005.

References 

  1. Appelboom WJMJ. Non respons onderzoek gezondheidsenquete 1985. Voorburg: CBS; 1984;
  2. Van Baal M. Respons analysis survey van POLS—een tussenrapportage. Heerlen: CBS; 2000;
  3. Te Riele S. Vertekening door non-respons: hoe nauwkeurig zijn de uitkomsten van persoonsenquêtes?. Voorburg/Heerlen: CBS; 2002;
  4. Bakker BFM, van Rooijen J. One figure for the supply and demand of services. Netherlands official stat. 2000;15:40–46
  5. Picavet HSJ. National health surveys by mail or home interview: effects on response. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2001;55:408–413
  6. Van Loon AJ, Tijhuis M, Picavet HS, Surtees PG, Ormel J. Survey non-response in the Netherlands. Effects on prevalence estimates and associations. Ann Epidemiol. 2003;13:105–110
  7. Turrell G, Patterson C, Oldenburg B, Gould T, Roy MA. The socio-economic patterning of survey participation and non-response error in a multilevel study of food purchasing behaviour: area- and individual-level characteristics. Public Health Nutr. 2003;6:181–189
  8. Korkeila K, Suominen S, Ahvenainen J, Ojanlatva A, Rautava P, Helenius H, et al. Non-response and related factors in a nation-wide health survey. Eur J Epidemiol. 2001;17:991–999
  9. van den Akker M, Buntinx F, Metsemakers JF, Knottnerus JA. Morbidity in responders and non-responders in a register-based population survey. Fam Pract. 1998;15:261–263
  10. Reijneveld S, Stronks K. The impact of response bias on estimates of health care utilization in a metropolitan area: the use of administrative data. Int J Epidemiol. 1999;28:1134–1140
  11. Etter JF, Perneger TV. Analysis of non-response bias in a mailed health survey. J Clin Epidemiol. 1997;50:1123–1128
  12. Forthofer RN. Investigation of nonresponse bias in NHANES II. Am J Epidemiol. 1983;117:507–515
  13. Pullen E, Nutbeam D, Moore L. Demographic characteristics and health behaviours of consenters to medical examination. Results from the Welsh heart health survey. J Epidemiol Community Health. 1992;46:455–459
  14. Winkels JW, Everaers PCJ. Design of an integrated survey in the Netherlands. The case of POLS. Netherlands official stat. 1998;13:8–11
  15. Smeets H. Non-response van eerste generatie allochtonen in het POLS [Non-response of first generation immigrants in the periodical survey of conditions of living]. Heerlen/Voorburg. Bevolkings Trends: CBS; 2004;52(4): 92–97
  16. Rubin DB. Multiple imputation for nonresponse in surveys. New York: Wiley; 1987;
  17. Lazzeroni LG, Schenker N, Taylor JMG. Robustness of multiple imputation techniques to model misspecification. American Statistical Association's 1990 Proceedings of the Survey Research Methods Section 1990; 260-265.
  18. Lamers LM. Medical consumption of respondents and non-respondent to a mailed health survey. Eur J Public Health. 1997;7:267–271
  19. Heilbrun LK, Nomura A, Stemmermann GN. The effects of non-response in a prospective study of cancer: 15-year follow-up. Int J Epidemiol. 1991;20:328–338
  20. Ronmark E, Lundqvist A, Lundback B, Nystrom L. Non-responders to a postal questionnaire on respiratory symptoms and diseases. Eur J Epidemiol. 1999;15:293–299
  21. Mihelic AH, Crimmins EM. Loss to follow-up in a sample of Americans 70 years of age and older: the LSOA 1984–1990. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 1997;52:S37–S48
  22. Shahar E, Folsom AR, Jackson R. The effect of nonresponse on prevalence estimates for a referent population: insights from a population-based cohort study. Atherosclerosis risk in communities (ARIC) study investigators. Ann Epidemiol. 1996;6:498–506
  23. Klesges RC, Williamson JE, Somes GW, Talcott GW, Lando HA, Haddock CK. A population comparison of participants and nonparticipants in a health survey. Am J Public Health. 1999;89:1228–1231
  24. Hill A, Roberts J, Ewings P, Gunnell D. Non-response bias in a lifestyle survey. J Public Health Med. 1997;19:203–207
  25. Macera CA, Jackson KL, Davis DR, Kronenfeld JJ, Blair SN. Patterns of non-response to a mail survey. J Clin Epidemiol. 1990;43:1427–1430
  26. Eaker S, Bergstrom R, Bergstrom A, Adami HO, Nyren O. Response rate to mailed epidemiologic questionnaires: a population-based randomized trial of variations in design and mailing routines. Am J Epidemiol. 1998;147:74–82
  27. Jay GM, Liang J, Liu X, Sugisawa H. Patterns of nonresponse in a national survey of elderly Japanese. J Gerontol. 1993;48:S143–S152
  28. Eagan TM, Eide GE, Gulsvik A, Bakke PS. Nonresponse in a community cohort study: predictors and consequences for exposure-disease associations. J Clin Epidemiol. 2002;55:775–781
  29. Kypri K, Stephenson S, Langley J. Assessment of nonresponse bias in an internet survey of alcohol use. Alcohol clin Exp Res. 2004;28:630–634
  30. Bates N, Creighton K. The last five percent: what can we learn from difficult/late interviews?. Proceedings of the Annual Meetings of the American Statistical Association. Washington DC: US Census Bureau; 2000;
  31. Hochstim JR. A critical comparison of three strategies of collecting data from households. J Am Stat Assoc. 1967;62:976–989
  32. Lucht Fvd, Picavet HSJ. Sociaal-economische verschillen in persoonskenmerken, [Socio-economic differences in personal characterics]. Bilthoven: RIVM; 2003;
  33. Jacobsen BK, Thelle DS. The Tromsø heart study: responders and non-responders to a health questionnaire, do they differ?. Scand J Soc Med. 1988;16:101–104
  34. Launer LJ, Wind AW, Deeg DJ. Nonresponse pattern and bias in a community-based cross-sectional study of cognitive functioning among the elderly. Am J Epidemiol. 1994;139:803–812
  35. Brogger J, Bakke P, Eide GE, Gulsvik A. Contribution of follow-up of nonresponders to prevalence and risk estimates: a Norwegian respiratory health survey. Am J Epidemiol. 2003;157:558–566
  36. Siemiatycki J, Campbell S. Nonresponse bias and early versus all responders in mail and telephone surveys. Am J Epidemiol. 1984;120:291–301
  37. Bakke P, Gulsvik A, Lilleng P, Overa O, Hanoa R, Eide GE. Postal survey on airborne occupational exposure and respiratory disorders in Norway: causes and consequences of non-response. J Epidemiol Community Health. 1990;44:316–320
  38. Austin MA, Criqui MH, Barrett-Connor E, Holdbrook MJ. The effect of response bias on the odds ratio. Am J Epidemiol. 1981;114:137–143

PII: S0033-3506(05)00251-9

doi: 10.1016/j.puhe.2005.09.008

Public Health
Volume 120, Issue 4 , Pages 297-308 , April 2006