Abstract
Background
Population surveys are important for planning public policies and constitute an efficient way of obtaining representative data. In the health field, studies have been conducted with different objectives, such as identifying arterial hypertension (AH), which is a chronic noncommunicable disease (NCD), and determining its prevalence and associated risk factors.
Objectives
To evaluate the performance of a population health survey carried out in the municipality of Sorocaba between August 2021 and June 2023 to estimate the prevalence of AH.
Methods
The performance indicator analyzed refers to the precision (design effect - deff) of the AH prevalence in adults (≥ 18 years) and the exposure to its main risk factors. The total sample included 1,080 individuals from the urban region, which is considered sufficient to estimate a deff of 1.5. This is a study whose clusters are represented by census sectors, with data collected during household visits through interviews using a standardized questionnaire and blood pressure and biometric parameter measurements. The deff calculation formula used was weighted variance/raw variance. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee, CAAE 30538520-1-0000-5373.
Results
The data obtained varied between a deff equal to 0.44 for the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and a deff equal to 1.49 for the use of sympatholytic medication, with a deff for the prevalence of AH equal to 1.12.
Conclusion
There was good precision of the results. There was excellent receptivity and collaboration among the interviewees. The cost‒benefit in developing this research was very adequate. The technique for selecting households in the respective clusters (census sectors), based on detailed mapping and demographic information from Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística - IBGE, proved to be practical and efficient and can be reproduced in other municipalities and for other NCDs.