No abstract available.
Health Surveys* ; Smoke* ; Smoking*

In 2008, the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) initiated Korean Community Health Survey (KCHS), the first nationwide survey to provide data that could be used to plan, implement, monitor and evaluate community health promotion and disease prevention program. This community-based cross-sectional survey has been conducted by 253 community health centers, 36 community universities and 1,500 interviewers. The KCHS standardized questionnaire is developed jointly by KCDC staff, a working group of health indicators standardization subcommittee and 16 metropolitan cities and provinces with 253 regional sites. The KCHS was administered by trained interviewers and the quality control of KCHS was improved by introduction of computer-assisted personal interview in 2010. The questionnaire was reviewed annually so that revised and/or new questions could be added based on public health policy. The additional questions included the fixed and rotating cores, emerging issues and optional modules. The standardized questionnaire of KCHS covered a wide variety of health topics, which could be used to assess the prevalence of personal health behaviors related to causes of disease. The KCHS data allows that the differences of health issues among provinces can be directly compared. Furthermore, the provinces can use these data for their own cost-effective health interventions to improve health promotion and disease prevention.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.) ; Community Health Centers ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Health Behavior ; Health Promotion ; Health Surveys ; Humans ; Organothiophosphorus Compounds ; Prevalence ; Public Health ; Quality Control ; Surveys and Questionnaires

OBJECTIVES: We estimated the population prevalence of antibodies to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), including unreported infections, through a Korea Seroprevalence Study of Monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Retention and Transmission (K-SEROSMART) in 258 communities throughout Korea. METHODS: In August 2022, a survey was conducted among 10,000 household members aged 5 years and older, in households selected through two stage probability random sampling. During face-to-face household interviews, participants self-reported their health status, COVID-19 diagnosis and vaccination history, and general characteristics. Subsequently, participants visited a community health center or medical clinic for blood sampling. Blood samples were analyzed for the presence of antibodies to spike proteins (anti-S) and antibodies to nucleocapsid proteins (anti-N) SARS-CoV-2 proteins using an electrochemiluminescence immunoassay. To estimate the population prevalence, the PROC SURVEYMEANS statistical procedure was employed, with weighting to reflect demographic data from July 2022. RESULTS: In total, 9,945 individuals from 5,041 households were surveyed across 258 communities, representing all basic local governments in Korea. The overall population-adjusted prevalence rates of anti-S and anti-N were 97.6% and 57.1%, respectively. Since the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency has reported a cumulative incidence of confirmed cases of 37.8% through July 31, 2022, the proportion of unreported infections among all COVID-19 infection was suggested to be 33.9%. CONCLUSIONS The K-SEROSMART represents the first nationwide, community-based seroepidemiologic survey of COVID-19, confirming that most individuals possess antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 and that a significant number of unreported cases existed. Furthermore, this study lays the foundation for a surveillance system to continuously monitor transmission at the community level and the response to COVID-19.