International population-based health surveys linked to outcome data: A new resource for public health and epidemiology

Population health surveys do not usually collect longitudinal information about survey respondents, unlike most traditional epidemiology studies, which typically involve actively determining outcomes, often with repeat exposure assessment during follow-up. Typically, population health surveys determine only baseline exposures, through self-response, and most surveys do not ascertain temporal outcomes because of their cross-sectional nature. However, linking health surveys to outcome data, such as vital statistics and health care data, introduces a longitudinal perspective that greatly increases the surveys’ utility.