National Nutrition Survey menuCH 2014-2015

Confidentiality of respondents is guaranteed by Articles 4 to 15 of the Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP) of 19 June 1992 (Status as of 1 January 2014). Anonymisation and de-identification: the data anonymisation and de-identification was performed by Unisanté team with the help of FSVO collaborators. This dataset contains only de-identified data following the standard for de-identification of protected health information, Section 164.514(a) of the Privacy Rule of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) (http://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/privacy/special-topics/de-identification/#standard). Under this standard, health information is not individually identifiable if it does not identify an individual and if the covered entity has no reasonable basis to believe it can be used to identify an individual. This is done by removing or recoding, direct and indirect, identifiers in the data. The following types of identifiers are examples, such as those identified by HIPAA, that should be considered for removal or recoding to prevent the risk of association of a participant to his / her data. The list includes, but is not limited to, the following: 1) Names and initials, 2) All elements of dates (except year) which can be directly associated with a specific individual (birthdate, etc.), 3) Kit numbers (diagnostic kits) and device numbers (devices used in the trials), 4) Geographic information such as place of work, trial site location, addresses, zip codes, etc., 5) Telephone numbers, 6) Email addresses, 7) Fax numbers, 8) Account numbers, 9) Social security numbers, 10) Health plan beneficiary numbers, 11) Medical record numbers, 12) Vehicle identifier numbers and serial numbers including license plate numbers, 13) Certificate / license numbers (marriage licenses, etc.) 14) Biometric identifiers including such as MRI, hand voice prints, etc. 15) Full face photographic images or comparable images 16) Web Universal Resource Locators (URLs), 17) Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, and 18) Any other unique identifying number, code or characteristic. All of these 18 items should be considered to be removed from the data set excepting some geographic information about the country of birth and the nationality of participants. This information has been aggregated into larger regions according to WHO regions (http://www.who.int/about/regions/en/ and a new special group for Switzerland and Liechtenstein) not giving away sufficient information to identify individuals: 1. African / Eastern Mediterranean Region, 2. European Region (excepting Switzerland and Liechtenstein,) 3. Western Pacific / South-East Asia Region, 4. Region of the Americas - Switzerland and Liechtenstein. The original subject id of the study was replaced with a new random subject id. Other sensitive information about health status or religion diets have been removed or aggregated in more general groups. The variables having undergone an anonymization treatment could be identified by the term "recoded" added at the end of their name. Before being granted access to the dataset, all users have to formally agree: 1. To make no copies of any files or portions of files to which s/he is granted access except those authorized by the data depositor. 2. Not to use any technique in an attempt to learn the identity of any person, establishment, or sampling unit not identified on public use data files. 3. To hold in strictest confidence the identification of any establishment or individual that may be inadvertently revealed in any documents or discussion, or analysis. Such inadvertent identification revealed in her/his analysis will be immediately brought to the attention of the data depositor. This statement does not replace a more comprehensive data agreement (see Access conditions).