Development of Korean Community Health Survey: Contribution to health information at the regional levels

The Korean Community Health Survey (KCHS) is the first nationwide survey aimed at providing health information at the regional and provincial levels, which was coordinated by Korea Center for Disease and Prevention (KCDC) and carried out by 253 public health center. As a community-based cross-sectional survey, this was conducted between September and November of each year starting 2008. Face-to-face interviews were conducted to obtain the required information on 220,248 individuals of aged 19 or older in 112, 822 households, which corresponds approximately 0.6% of Korea population of these ages. The questionnaire of the KCHS consists of 400 questions with 14 different versions. 360 questions were common content section to all interviewees, and 40 optional content section containing questions selected to meet the particular needs of regional and provincial. The questions covering 14 major categories, which consisted of socio-demographic profile, health behaviors, medical examination, diseases status, quality of life (EQ-5D, EQ-VAS, K-IADL), medical service, accident, injure etc. Implementation of CCHS marks an important turning point in the collection of information on the health of Korea. Policy-makers and health care professionals will be able to identify benchmarks and track the progress of health programs within their regions. Future research will allow the in-depth study with special needs in the population including environmental factors.