Risk Factor Prevalence Survey Data Collection

There were three Risk Factor Prevalence Surveys (RFPS) run in 1980, 1983 and 1989. These surveys gathered information about the prevalence of heart disease risk factors in adult Australians living in State and Territory capital cities. The surveys gathered self-reported health and demographic information, measured height, weight and blood pressure and collected blood samples for analysis. In all three surveys the blood samples were tested for total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels. For the 1989 survey additional analysis of the blood samples was carried out to test blood iron, ferritin and transferrin levels.For the 1980 and 1983 survey participants were adults aged 25- 64 years randomly selected from the electoral roll and recruited from defined catchment areas in the 6 State capitals. Canberra and Darwin were excluded. For the 1989 survey participants were adults aged 20-69 years recruited from defined catchment areas in the 6 State capitals, as well as Canberra and Darwin.