§ the timing of data collection for marital status, educational level, employment status and religion of non-participants was not at the time of study but at admission for thyroid surgery or radioiodine treatment.
Three controls for each confirmed incident RA case were randomly chosen from among participants with stored blood, matched on age (±1 year), menopausal status and postmenopausal hormone use, as well as on time of data collection and fasting status at blood draw.
The data collection concerned the status for the patients at the time of follow-up and inclusion in the study, and not the status at the time of diagnosis.
Data collection included vital status, morbidity, anthropometry and vaccinations.
However efforts need to be made to improve the data collection regarding physician status in Jamaica before this estimate is deemed to be accurate.
Data Collection: Premorbid health status variables (PHSV): age, sex, comorbidity (Charlson index), medical history (heart failure, pulmonary disease, cerebrovascular disease, dementia), previous living situation and pre-admission functional status (premorbid Lawton and Barthel indices).
We incorporated new questions into the template for the INPS-Vision computer system (a standard system used across UK primary care) to prompt staff to offer the one-stop blood test to eligible patients and facilitate routine data collection around migration status, an approach used successfully in a previous trial in the same context [ 20].
We also assessed the potential confounding effects of a range of other variables, including number of births, age at first birth, age at menopause, surgical menopause (bilateral oophorectomy), menopausal symptoms, BMI (weight kg)/height (m)) one year before data collection, height, socioeconomic status, smoking, and ever use of medium potency estrogen-progestin therapy.
There has been increasing emphasis on the need for standardizing data collection on functional status for the purpose of quality assurance and for setting health and research policies, which should broadly cover an individual's ability to perform activities of daily living and to participate in societal activities.
