The Danish Health and Wellbeing Survey: Study design, response proportion and respondent characteristics

Abstract

Aims: This study aimed to describe the study design and respondent characteristics (including non-response analyses) of the Danish Health and Wellbeing Surveys in 2015 and 2019 and a follow-up survey that was carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Methods: The Danish Health and Wellbeing Survey is the Danish part of the European Health Interview Survey (EHIS). The samples in 2015 ( N=12,000) and 2019 ( N=14,000) were both based on a simple random selection of individuals aged ⩾15 years from the Danish Civil Registration System. All individuals from the sample in 2019 who were still alive and living in Denmark were reinvited for a follow-up survey in 2020 ( N=13,474). Data in all surveys were collected via self-administered questionnaires (web or paper based). The questionnaires in 2015 and 2019 included the EHIS model questionnaire as well as national questions, whereas the questionnaire in 2020 mainly focused on physical and mental health, employment and working lives, and health behaviour. Results: The overall response proportion declined slightly between 2015 (48.4%) and 2019 (47.4%) but went up to 49.8% in the follow-up survey in 2020. Unit non-response was associated with, for example, male sex, younger age, being unmarried and lower educational level but not with degree of urbanisation. In all, 5000 individuals completed the questionnaire in both 2019 and 2020. Conclusions: The results are in line with most previous research on non-response in health surveys. However, an association between degree of urbanisation and non-response has been suggested in previous studies. This association was not found in our study.

Decreasing Mental Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Study Among Danes Before and During the Pandemic

“…In this study, we included the wave from autumn 2019, which we re-invited in the autumn of 2020. The design of these surveys is described in detail elsewhere (Rosendahl Jensen et al, 2021).…”

Factors related to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in Denmark: A national study in the autumn of 2021

“…Data derived from a follow-up survey of the Danish Health and Wellbeing Survey from 2019 [ 13 ]. In 2019, 14,000 individuals aged ⩾15 years were randomly selected from the Danish Civil Registration System and invited via the secure electronical mail service, Digital Post, to complete a self-administrated questionnaire.…”

“…In total, 5384 (39.7%) individuals completed the questionnaire. The details of the survey have been described elsewhere [ 13 ].…”

Economics of mental wellbeing: A prospective study estimating associated productivity costs due to sickness absence from the workplace in Denmark

“…The Danish Health and Wellbeing Survey (Rosendahl Jensen et al, 2021) is the Danish part of the European Health Interview Survey (EHIS). Everyone with residence in Denmark has a personal identification number which is used throughout administrative registers and stored in the Civil Registration System (Pedersen, 2011;.…”

“…The survey data were linked at an individual level to registers at Statistics Denmark, which allows for the merging of data on the amount of sickness absence from the workplace and health status, among other variables. The study design and the data collection methods have been described in detail elsewhere (Rosendahl Jensen et al, 2021). All data were pseudonymised, to hinder the possibility of tracing back to specific participants.…”