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The mobile exam center is one of seven being constructed that will help assess the health and nutritional status of adults and children in the U.S. in 2025
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. — The first mobile exam center has arrived at RTI International and will soon embark on an annual national data collection process for the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) program.
In 2023, RTI was awarded a contract to oversee sample design and data collection for NHANES, a major program of the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), part of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). NHANES has been traveling across the country learning about the health of the U.S. population since 1960 to inform national policies and practices.
“The data collection process for NHANES is truly a national endeavor and would not be possible without these mobile exam centers, which are impressively equipped but also small enough to travel the country,” said Steven B. Cohen, Ph.D., NHANES program director and principal scientist at RTI. “The ability to move around and gather data from different populations is critical to capturing a representative sample.”
Each mobile exam center comprises three vehicles that provide state-of-the-art equipment found in a typical clinical setting. They are specifically equipped to enable height and weight, blood pressure, body composition, vision, audiometry, oral health, spirometry, and multiple other types of exams, though specific measurements and exams depend on a participant’s age and gender.
Survey data contribute to public health policies and practices by determining the prevalence of major diseases and associated risk factors, informing pediatric growth charts and providing national obesity statistics, among other uses. Participation is invitation-only and determined through a random sampling process.
Members of the RTI Board of Governors toured the mobile exam center on RTI's campus the week of July 22.
NHANES is part of a portfolio of national, large-scale surveys led by RTI that includes the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), and National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health).
Learn more about RTI’s national survey and data collection work
