National Health Interview Survey: Longitudinal Study of Aging, 70 Years and Over, 1984-1990
This study, commonly known as the Longitudinal Study of Aging (LSOA), was conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) in collaboration with the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and designed to (1) provide mortality rates by demographic, social, economic, and health characteristics that are not available from the vital statistics system, (2) measure change in the functional status and living arrangements of older people, and (3) provide measures of health care use. It was also designed to describe the continuum from functionally independent living in the community through dependence, possible institutionalization, and finally death. The LSOA is an extension of the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) of 1984, following its sample of 16,148 noninstitutionalized elderly people (55 years and over) living in the United States, with a special focus on those who were 70 years and over in 1984. This release of the LSOA contains data on those respondents who had been 70 years and older at the time of their 1984 interviews. The data include 1986, 1988, and 1990 reinterviews, National Death Index matches from 1984-1989, and 1987 interviews with contact persons named by decedents, as well as selected variables from the 1984 NHIS core questionnaire and its two supplements, Health Insurance and the Supplement on Aging (SOA). Two Medicare files are also included: Part 2, Medicare Hospital Records, and Part 3, Other Medicare Use Records (which covers home health care, hospice, and outpatient use). Links also are provided to allow merging of additional variables from the NATIONAL HEALTH INTERVIEW SURVEY, 1984 (ICPSR 8659).
Health Interview Survey, 1963
The purpose of the Health Interview Survey 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. There are six types of records in this year's survey, each in a separate data file. The variables in the Household file (Part 1) include type of living quarters, size of family, number of families in the household, presence of a telephone, number of unrelated individuals, and region. The Family file (Part 2) includes information on family size, sex, race, education, health status of family members, and total health expenses for the family. The Person file (Part 3) includes information on sex, age, race, marital status, Hispanic origin, education, veteran status, family income, family size, major activities, health status, activity limits, employment status, and industry and occupation. These variables are found in the Condition and Hospital Episode files as well. The Person file also supplies data on height, weight, bed days, doctor visits, hospital stays, years at residence, and region variables. The Condition file (Part 4) contains information for each reported health condition, with specifics on injury and accident reports. The Hospital Episode file (Part 5) provides information on medical conditions, hospital episodes, type of service, type of hospital ownership, date of admission and discharge, number of nights in hospital, and operations performed. The Health Expenditure file (Part 6) includes medical and health related expenses, such as hospital bills, medicine costs, dental bills, doctor bills, as well as insurance coverage and costs.
National Health Interview Survey, 2007
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 2007 NHIS contains the Household, Family, Person, Sample Adult, and Sample Child files from the basic module. Each record in Part 1, Household Level, 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. Part 2, Family Level, 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, Part 3, Person Level, 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 Part 4, Sample Adult, regarding respiratory conditions, use of nasal spray, renal conditions, AIDS, joint symptoms, health status, limitation of daily activities, and behaviors such as smoking, alcohol consumption, and physical activity in addition to questions regarding stroke, diabetes, arthritis, and weight control. Part 5, Sample Child, 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 like hearing aids, braces, or wheelchairs. Also included are variables regarding child behavior, the use of mental health services, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), as well as responses to the SDQ, the Strengths and Difficulties questionnaire on child mental health. The 2007 data contain the Child Conditions - Limitation of Activity and Health Status (CHS), Child Health Care Access and Utilization (CAU), Child Mental Health Brief (CMB), Child Mental Health Services (CMS) and Child Influenza Immunization (CFI) sections. Part 6, Injury/Poison Episode, is an episode-based file that contains information about the external cause and nature of the injury or poisoning episode and what the person was doing at the time of the injury or poisoning episode, in addition to the date and place of occurrence. Part 7, Injury/Poison Episode Verbatim, contains edited narrative text descriptions of the injury or poisoning, provided by the respondent. Part 8, Adult Complementary and Alternative Medicine, and Part 9, Child Complementary and Alternative Medicine, provide information regarding the use of 17 nonconventional health care practices, including acupuncture, movement therapies, and relaxation techniques, for sample adults and sample children, respectively. Supplemental Sample Child, Part 10, and Supplemental Sample Child Alternative Medicine, Part 11, are supplemental files for the 2007 data release. These files provide dummy records to fill in the missing information for Part 5, Sample Child, and Part 9, Child Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Part 12, Paradata, does not contain health related information, but rather data which are related to the interview process, including measures of time, contact-ability, and cooperation. RAT_CAT3 Update, Part 13, corrects an error in the 2007 Family Level variable RAT_CAT3.