Vigilancia de los factores de riesgo de las enfermedades no transmisibles mediante encuesta telefónica: resultados de la Comunidad de Madrid en el período 1995-2003

objective: to illustrate -for the first time with spanish data- the usefulness of telephone-interview-based surveillance of non-communicable diseases risk factors for the purpose of drawing up public health policies. methods: we analysed information from the non-communicable disease risk factor surveillance system (sistema de vigilancia de factores de riesgo asociados a enfermedades no transmisibles- sivfrent) for the period 1995-2003. this system is based on monthly telephone interviews covering a representative population sample, aged 18-64 years. 18,049 interviews were conducted for the whole period. indicators of overweight and obesity, sedentary lifestyle, diet, tobacco and alcohol consumption, preventive practices, accidents and injuries, and road safety were calculated. the time trend was estimated using average annual prevalence ratios, obtained from generalised linear models with binomial family and logarithmic link. results: among men, the changes of greatest magnitude corresponded to an increase in overweight and obesity, which registered a relative annual rise of 3.7%, and a decrease in dieting (-3%), high alcohol consumption (-6.1%) and non-use of safety belts (-4%). among women, there was a marked increase in overweight and obesity (3.3%), cessation of smoking (3.1%) and recourse to mammograms (6.4%), and a decrease in dieting (-4.1%) and non-use of safety belts (-4.5%). conclusions: although important progress was observed in a number of indicators, such as tobacco and alcohol consumption, road safety and the undertaking of preventive practices, the situation worsened in others, i.e., fundamentally the increase in overweight and obesity.