There is strong policy interest in monitoring trends on the prevalence of chronic diseases and disability rates, both nationally and internationally, in light of rising life expectancy and population ageing. However, international comparisons of health and disability survey data are difficult because different instruments are used to measure various health and disability dimensions in national surveys.

This inventory examines the comparability of survey instruments used to measure health and disability in various OECD countries. It extends a similar inventory prepared by the Danish Institute of Public Health for Eurostat in 1999. Some 30 surveys from 23 OECD countries are reviewed in detail and compared. These include a mix of cross-sectional and longitudinal surveys, general health and disabilityspecific surveys, and surveys covering the entire population and some targeting the elderly population only. The domains covered include selected health conditions (chronic physical ...