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Field Issues for the Plan and Operation of the Laboratory Component of the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey^1,2,

Geraldine M. McQuillan^*, Elaine W. Gunter and Linda Lannom

^* Division of Health Examination Statistics, National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control, Hyattsville, MD 20782 Division of Environmental Health Laboratory Sciences, Center for Environmental Health and Injury Control, Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, GA 30333 Westat, Inc.

The design of the laboratory component of a mobile examination survey such as the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey requires that the physical limitation of the mobile examination center be balanced against the requirements of the laboratory analyses needed to fulfill the goals of the survey. In order to include an analysis in the survey, the scientific merit of the laboratory test must be established and a consensus must be reached on the appropriateness of the technology for the six years of the survey. The public health importance of the analysis and the subsequent results are also evaluated before inclusion into the laboratory protocol. Finally, the feasibility of incorporating the analysis into the protocol is reviewed. The laboratory component of NHANES III is discussed, addressing these points with descriptions of the reasons for inclusion and exclusion of key analytes.

KEY WORDS: • mobile examination survey • key analytes • method selection • sample handling • quality control

¹ Presented as part of a conference, "Nutrition Monitoring and Nutrition Status Assessment", at the first fall meeting of the American Institute of Nutrition, Charleston, South Carolina, December 8–10, 1989. The conference was supported in part by cooperative agreement HPU880004-02-1 with the DHHS Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, the USDA Human Nutrition Information Service, the DHHS National Center for Health Statistics, and the International Life Sciences Institute-Nutrition Foundation.

² The Planning Committee for the meeting consisted of Drs. Helen A. Guthrie, Roy J. Martin, Linda D. Meyers, James A. Olson, Catherine E. Woteki, and Richard G. Allison (ex officio). The symposium papers were edited by a committee consisting of Dr. James Allen Olson (coordinator), Dept. of Biochemistry & Biophysics, Iowa State University, Ames, IA; Dr. Cathy C. Campbell, Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY; Dr. Roy J. Martin, Dept. of Foods & Nutrition, University of Georgia, Athens, GA; and Dr. Catherine E. Woteki, Food & Nutrition Board, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC.

Use of trade names is for identification only and does not constitute endorsement by the Public Health Service or the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Manuscript received 10 December 1989. Revision accepted 11 July 1990.