Pasquotank County will be one of 15 counties across the country to take part in this year’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to measure medical norms for the nation.

The comprehensive annual study of the health of Americans begins in Pasquotank County on Thursday, according to Linda Dapper, a study manager with the Centers for Disease Control.

Workers will begin setting up medical examination rooms on four tractor-trailers Friday across the street from Albemarle Hospital.

Workers will conduct a door-to-door canvass of hundreds of Pasquotank County residents, Dapper said. People selected for the study will come to the medical center.

Dapper said the survey workers will be looking for 536 residents who meet the needs of statisticians at the CDC. They are looking for a cross-section of the public, broken down by age, sex, race and other criteria.

Medical examinations for those selected will begin March 17. Examiners will be measuring height, weight, blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, fitness, eyesight, bone structure and body mass, among other things.

In short, they will be setting the medical norms for the nation, Dapper said.

The exams can take as long as three hours and participants are compensated. Adults are paid $100, children 12 to 15 are paid $50 and children under 12 are paid $30, Dapper said.

The survey has been going on since the 1960s and became annual in 1999.

In the past, the survey has discovered such dangerous health trends as high degrees of lead poisoning in children. Survey results also led to the fortification of breakfast cereals with folic acid, which has reduced cases of spina bifida nationwide.

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Information from: The Daily Advance, http://www.dailyadvance.com/