A compilation of 75+ U.S. surveillance systems provides researchers with a one-stop resource on childhood obesity data
WASHINGTON, DC – The National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research (NCCOR) announced today the launch of a new, free online resource to help researchers and practitioners more easily investigate childhood obesity in America.
NCCOR’s Catalogue of Surveillance Systems describes in detail existing surveillance systems that collect data related to childhood obesity. It provides one-stop access to more than 75 surveys and other data sets, allowing users to search and select surveys that provide a wealth of data at the national, state, and local levels on a range of variables, including school policies and health outcomes, as well as eating and exercise behaviors. Health officials at the city and state level also can find data related to their programs.
Using the Catalogue, researchers can:
- Identify surveillance systems to meet their research and program needs
- Compare attributes across systems
- Find information about the systems
- Link directly to the systems to download data or other information
“NCCOR’s Catalogue of Surveillance Systems is a valuable tool for any researcher focused on childhood obesity,” said NIH Director, Dr. Francis Collins. “Searching for information on data in these systems now takes a matter of minutes rather than hours, or even days. It is also now possible to see which data systems can be linked in order to study these health behaviors at the individual and environmental levels.”
The Catalogue of Surveillance Systems is available at www.nccor.org/css.
NCCOR is a collaboration among the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to accelerate progress on reversing the epidemic of childhood obesity in the United States. Through the collective efforts of these organizations, NCCOR aims to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of research on childhood obesity. The Catalogue of Surveillance Systems is one product to help U.S. researchers and practitioners studying childhood obesity. NCCOR plans to launch a second online tool soon, which will allow researchers to search for available survey instruments and questionnaires they can use in their own studies.
Please visit www.nccor.org for more information about the Catalogue, a full list of NCCOR-led projects, upcoming events, and childhood obesity research highlights.