Version Date: Mar 23, 2011 View help for published
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
United States Department of Health and Human Services. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Center for Health Statistics
Series:
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR04176.v4
Version V4
The purpose of the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) is to obtain information about the amount and distribution of illness, its effects in terms of disability and chronic impairments, and the kinds of health services people receive. Implementation of a redesigned NHIS, consisting of a basic module, a periodic module, and a topical module, began in 1997 (See NATIONAL HEALTH INTERVIEW SURVEY, 1997 [ICPSR 2954]). The 2002 NHIS contains the Household, Family, Person, Sample Adult, Sample Child, Child Immunization, and Injury and Poison Episode data files from the basic module. Each record in the Household-Level File (Part 1) contains data on type of living quarters, number of families in the household responding and not responding, and the month and year of the interview for each sampling unit. The Family-Level File (Part 2) is made up of reconstructed variables from the person-level data of the basic module and includes information on sex, age, race, marital status, Hispanic origin, education, veteran status, family income, family size, major activities, health status, activity limits, and employment status, along with industry and occupation. As part of the basic module, the Person-Level File (Part 3) provides information on all family members with respect to health status, limitation of daily activities, cognitive impairment, and health conditions. Also included are data on years at current residence, region variables, height, weight, bed days, doctor visits, hospital stays, and health care access and utilization. A randomly-selected adult in each family was interviewed for the Sample Adult File (Part 4) regarding respiratory conditions, renal conditions, AIDS, joint symptoms, health status, limitation of daily activities, and behaviors such as smoking, alcohol consumption, and physical activity. Also included in this file are variables pertaining to the Healthy People 2010 Objectives. The Sample Child File (Part 5) provides information from an adult in the household on medical conditions of one child in the household, such as respiratory problems, seizures, allergies, and use of special equipment such as hearing aids, braces, or wheelchairs. Also included are variables regarding child behavior, the use of mental health services, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The Child Immunization File (Part 6) presents information from shot records on vaccination status, number and dates of shots, and information about the chicken pox vaccine. Episode-based information regarding injuries and poisonings is found in the Injury and Poison Episode File (Part 7), which examines the cause and date of injury or poisoning, loss of time from work or school, and whether the episode resulted in hospitalization. Information in the Injury and Poison Verbatim File (Part 8) is comprised of narrative text describing injuries, including type of injury, how the injury occurred, and the body part injured. The Alternative Health Supplement (Part 9) collected information from sample adults on their use of 17 nonconventional health care practices: acupuncture, ayurveda, biofeedback, chelation therapy, chiropractic care, energy healing therapy/Reiki, folk medicine, hypnosis, massage, naturopathy, natural herbs, homeopathic treatment, special diets, high dose or megavitamin therapy, yoga/tai chi/qi gong, relaxation techniques, and prayer and spiritual healing. The Alternative Health Verbatim File (Part 10) contains the narrative text regarding the use of nontraditional health care practices.
Export Citation:
In preparing the data file(s) for this collection, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) has removed direct identifiers and characteristics that might lead to identification of data subjects. As an additional precaution, NCHS requires, under Section 308(d) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 242m), that data collected by NCHS not be used for any purpose other than statistical analysis and reporting. NCHS further requires that analysts not use the data to learn the identity of any persons or establishments and that the director of NCHS be notified if any identities are inadvertently discovered. ICPSR member institutions and other users ordering data from ICPSR are expected to adhere to these restrictions.
Per agreement with the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), ICPSR distributes the data files and text of the technical documentation in this collection in their original form as prepared by NCHS.
The data from the Household-Level File can be merged with any of the other files, and other files can be merged as well. For further information on merging data, consult the Survey Description.
The NHIS uses a stratified multistage probability design. The sample for the NHIS is redesigned every decade using population data from the most recent decennial census. A redesigned sample was implemented in 1995. This new design includes a greater number of primary sampling units (PSUs) (from 198 in 1994 to 358), and a more complicated nonresponse adjustment based on household screening and oversampling of Black and Hispanic persons, for more reliable estimates of these groups.
Civilian, noninstitutionalized population of the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
personal interview
2005-02-03
2011-03-23 Two new documentation files have been added.
2011-03-21 The data collection is being updated to include the following file types: SPSS setup files and datasets; SAS setup files and datasets; STATA setup files and datasets; text data files in .txt and .tsv format; and codebooks containing frequencies for both datasets.
2006-02-17 Updated SPSS setup files have been provided.
2005-02-03 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:
The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.
This study is maintained and distributed by the National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging (NACDA), the aging program within ICPSR. NACDA is sponsored by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) at the National Institutes of Heath (NIH).
