CDC holding health and diet study here

The “Cadillac of health studies” has rolled into Queens County.
The nation’s most comprehensive study of the health and diet of Americans, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), got underway here on Thursday, April 12.
According to NHANES study manager Nora Martinello, approximately 620 randomly-selected Queens residents will eventually participate in the federally-funded study, which is conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).
“[NHANES] provides the nation with its report card on health,” said Martinello.
Martinello said that about 13,000 Queens households have already received notification via postcards and follow-up letters alerting them that they have been selected to be pre-screened for participation in the study.
Teams of specially-trained professionals will visit those households to determine factors such as the number, races, gender and ethnicity of the people living there.
Each household has already been randomly assigned criteria it must meet in order to participate. For example, the criteria could require that a Hispanic male over 60 reside at one home, while researchers could be searching for children of any race under the age of five at the house next door, Martinello explained.
The health examinations that follow will take place in a mobile exam center set up in the parking lot of Queens Hospital Center. The mobile center is staffed by a physician, nutritionists and health and laboratory technicians and is fitted with high-tech, state-of-the-art equipment.
All participants are examined by a physician and undergo a dietary interview and body measurements including height and weight.
Depending on their age, some will also be eligible for a hearing test, a bone density scan, a vision test and a test for degenerative eye disease.
According to Martinello, participants will receive findings from as much as $4,500 worth of medical testing at no cost to them. Transportation reimbursement and a small stipend are also included.
NHANES has been conducted by NCHS since the early 1960s and provides annual national estimates on conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, respiratory disease and others.
The study provides information that is used by public health officials, legislators and physicians to develop health policies direct and design health programs and services and expand the nation’s health knowledge. Individual information collected during the survey is confidential and participants’ privacy is protected by law.
No medical care is provided directly in the examination center, but each participant receives a report on his or her medical findings along with an explanation of those findings.
“We encourage them to share that data with a physician,” Martinello said.