We were unable to answer a number of the audience questions during the broadcast due to the lack of time. Here are the questions and the answers from the forum experts.

Question: Can we expect that health workers will not fabricate the questionnaires sent from “thigher-ups” (in case of patient interviews) if they are not paid for this work? This is still work.

Medical professionals without proper training and motivation, of course, should not be engaged in patient interviews. This leads to poor-quality feedback collection (questionnaires are poorly collected, fabricated or requirements for data collection ensuring a representative sample are ignored) and distracts specialists from their direct responsibilities.

For successful sociological data collection it is recommended to cooperate with professional sociologists specializing in applied research and having extensive experience in it (the latter is important, as sociological education, publications or degrees do not guarantee that a specialist fully understands how applied research is organized, for example, due to the fact that he is exclusively engaged in academic, theoretical research).

Another option is to establish a health sociology research unit in the organization. Then again, it is important to involve professionals in creating such a service.

One can agree with the opinion expressed at the forum that the medical and sociological service should, if possible, be centralized, so that methodological issues can monitored by professionals.

Question: Today we are surrounded by loads of different messages and news, and among them it is not always possible to find practical answers to the questions that concern everyone: what should I do if I have symptoms of coronavirus? When shall I call an ambulance? Who needs a CT scan? What should I do if I had a contact with an infected person? How much protection do face masks offer? How shall I recover from an illness? How should I keep my children safe?

We recommend trusting official information and reports from health officials.

Updated information can be found on the following websites:

- federal: Стопкоронавирус.рф (hotline +7-800-2000-112), Rospotrebnadzor, Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation.

- Moscow: Moscow City Government, Moscow Healthcare Department (hotline +7 (499) 251-83-00), the Research Institute NIIOZMM.

Question: Is there an quantifier to the BMI (body mass index) depending on a person's constitution?

Currently, the most widely used indicator for assessing the degree of obesity is the body mass index (Quetelet index). More than 20 years ago WHO recommended that a doctor should assess excess body weight through BMI during routine examinations: BMI = body weight (kg)/height (m²). The unit of measurement is kg/m2. Normal body weight corresponds to a BMI of 18.5-24.9 kg/m2. If a BMI is 25.0 kg/m2 - 29.9 kg/m2, then body weight is assessed as overweight, and if it is 30.0 kg/m2 or more - as obesity.

When calculating BMI, only indicators of height and weight are considered, which in turn does not always give a real idea of the amount of adipose tissue, especially if there is a slight excess. In particular, this indicator can give an inaccurate representation in case of atrophy of skeletal muscles (due to the age or physical inactivity), in case of water and electrolyte imbalance, osteoporosis, etc. Today there are special methods recommended for assessing the body composition, accurate determination of fat component in the total body weight (CT, absorption densitometry, bioimpedance measurement, etc.) Using BMI for diagnosing obesity is unreliable in children, people over 65, athletes, and pregnant women. (Source: State Research Center of Preventive Medicine of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russia, 2012).