Ethnic inequalities in health between Arabs and Jews in Israel: the relative contribution of individual-level factors and the living environment.

Objectives: Ethnic inequalities in health (EIH) are unjust public health problem that emerge across societies. In Israel, despite uniform healthcare coverage, marked EIH persist between Arabs and Jews.

Methods: We draw on the ecosocial approach to examine the relative contributions of individual socioeconomic status (SES), psychosocial and health behavioral factors, and the living environment (neighborhood problems, social capital, and social participation) to explaining ethnic differences in self-rated health (SRH).

Who provides accelerometry data? Correlates of adherence to wearing an accelerometry motion sensor: the 2008 Health Survey for England.

Background: Use of objective physical activity measures is rising. We investigated the representativeness of survey participants who wore an accelerometer.

Methods: 4273 adults aged 16+ from a cross-sectional survey of a random, nationally representative general population sample in England in 2008 were categorized as 1) provided sufficient accelerometry data [4-7 valid days (10+ hrs/d), n = 1724], 2) less than that (n = 237), or 3) declined (n = 302).

The contribution of active travel (walking and cycling) in children to overall physical activity levels: a national cross sectional study.

Objective: To assess the contribution of active travel to and from school to children's overall physical activity levels in England.

Method: Logistic regression models examining associations between active travel (walked, or cycled, to/from school at least once in the last week) and achievement of physical activity recommendations (≥60 min/d daily) in 4,468 children aged 5-15y (303 with valid accelerometry data) participating in the nationally-representative Health Survey for England 2008.

Results: The 64% of children who walked and the 3% who cycled to/from school were more active than the 33% who did neither.

The effect of mode and context on survey results: analysis of data from the Health Survey for England 2006 and the Boost Survey for London.

Background: Health-related data at local level could be provided by supplementing national health surveys with local boosts. Self-completion surveys are less costly than interviews, enabling larger samples to be achieved for a given cost. However, even when the same questions are asked with the same wording, responses to survey questions may vary by mode of data collection.

The effect of survey method on survey participation: analysis of data from the Health Survey for England 2006 and the Boost Survey for London.

Background: There is a need for local level health data for local government and health bodies, for health surveillance and planning and monitoring of policies and interventions. The Health Survey for England (HSE) is a nationally-representative survey of the English population living in private households, but sub-national analyses can be performed only at a regional level because of sample size. A boost of the HSE was commissioned to address the need for local level data in London but a different mode of data collection was used to maximise participant numbers for a given cost.

Under-reporting of tobacco use among Bangladeshi women in England.

Background: This study investigates the prevalence of under-reported use of tobacco among Bangladeshi women and the characteristics of this group.

Methods: The 1999 and 2004 Health Survey for England included 996 Bangladeshi women aged 16 years and above, 302 with a valid saliva sample and 694 without. The main outcome measure was the prevalence of under-reported tobacco use.

The use of complementary and alternative medicine among Chinese Canadians: results from a national survey.

This study examines the relationship between Chinese Canadian ethnicity and the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and explores some of the factors that contribute to CAM use among this visible minority group. Using data from cycle 2.1 of the Canadian Community Health Survey (2003), we use multivariate logistic regression to investigate the extent to which CAM use varies among Chinese Canadians and non-Chinese Canadians.