The government team responsible for all those statistics about Americans' health and eating habits are in Baltimore for the next several weeks collecting data – but officials say the turnout has been below average so far.
The CDC's 50-year-old National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey randomly selected the city as one of 15 it will visit this year and sent out notices to hundreds of residents also chosen randomly. Officials want about 370 of them to come for comprehensive testing and surveying in their four-trailer clinic set up Harbor East.
Participants get thousands of dollars worth of tests taken and interpreted by doctors, so people can learn, for example, if they have asthma, diabetes, brittle bones and bad teeth. They aren't treated but can take the information to their doctors, or get a referral for low-cost care. They also get paid for their time – about two to four hours in the clinic and another hour or so in an in-home interview. The data is all confidential.
But officials are finding a lot of locked doors when they visit the randomly selected residents, and others aren't showing up to appointments, said Janis Eklund, a study manager for the program. About 140 people have been interviewed and have appointments, about 60 shy of the norm.
In the study, each person examined represents 65,000 Americans. The data informs national policy setters and local officials looking to improve the health of residents. (The recent study saying one in five kids were losing their hearing, possibly from loud music through earbuds, came from this program. Older tests helped bring about folate recommendations for pregnant women, lead-free gasoline and healthier food at the grocery.)
"I knew the city would be tougher than the prairie," said Eklund, referring to the program's last stop in a small town in South Dakota known as home of the TV show Little House on the Prairie. "But this is a great opportunity for people to a comprehensive assessment of their health. It's once in a lifetime."
Baltimore Sun photo of the center parked in Harbor East/Meredith Cohn