Direct health measures surveys in Finland

In Finland the first national health examination surveys were carried out in the 1960s. Comprehensive surveys of nationally representative population samples have been carried out in 1978 to 1980 (The Mini-Finland Health Survey) and in 2000 to 2001 (Health 2000). Surveys of cardiovascular risk factors, so called FinRisk surveys, have assessed their trends every five years. The health examination surveys are an important tool of health monitoring, and, linked with registers also a rich source of data for epidemiological research. The paper also gives examples on reports published from several of these studies.