National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

National Health and Examination Survey, NHES I-III

NHES I, 1959-1962

Description

The National Health Examination Survey, Cycle I (NHES I) was conducted on a nationwide probability sample of approximately 7,800 persons 18-79 years of age. Upon completion of the cycle, 7,710 sample persons had been interviewed; of these, 6,672 were examined. Adjusted sampling weights were computed to inflate the sample so as to closely reflect the 111 million persons 18-79 years of age in the noninstitutionalized civilian population of the United States at the midpoint of the survey.

Data from NHES I are organized by subject. The person and demographic characteristics data is a master intended for use in conjunction with any or all other data in the set. It contains demographic, socioeconomic, and geographic classification information not available on most of the other data tapes, along with the sample weight for each examined person. A uniform sequence file number on all data permits the user to merge any of the tapes.

Data and Documentation/Codebook Files:

(NOTE for Data files: Clicking on the hyperlinks below will download self-extracting zip files from our FTP site. The zip files include the items listed after each hyperlink.) (NOTE for Documentation/ Codebook files: All files are in PDF format and require the Adobe Acrobat Reader (tm) to view and download.)

README [PDF - 11 KB]
README - SAS Input Conventions [PDF - 18 KB]
Analytic Guidelines [PDF - 28 KB]
Demographic Characteristics I, 1001
Dental Findings I, 1006
Diabetes Findings I, 1007
Cardiovascular Data I, 1004
Physical Measurements I, 1003
Psychological Distress I, 1002
Osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis I, 1005
Vision Data I, 1008

NHES II, 1963-1965

Description

The National Health Examination Survey, Cycle II (NHES II) was conducted on a nationwide probability sample of 7,417 children 6-11 years of age. Of the 7,417 children selected for the
sample, 7,119 (96 percent) were examined. Adjusted sampling weights were computed to inflate the sample so as to reflect the 24 million children in the U.S. population at that time in terms of age, sex, and certain other demographic characteristics.

NHES II contains responses to detailed structured questionnaires for medical and developmental histories; responses to school questionnaires; results of medical, dental, and psychological examinations, and vision and hearing tests; and anthropometric measurements.

Data and Documentation/Codebook Files:

README [PDF - 8 KB]
README - SAS Input Conventions [PDF - 18 KB]
Integrated Data 2IDT, 2IDT,
Growth Charts (November, 2012)
- Data [XPT - 8.2 KB]
- Documentation

NHES III, 1966-1970

Description

The National Health Examination Survey, Cycle III (NHES III) was conducted on a nationwide probability sample of 7,514 youths 12-17 years of age. Of the 7,514 youths selected for the sample, 6,768 (90 percent) were examined. Adjusted sampling weights were computed in order to inflate the sample so as to closely reflect the 23 million youths in the U.S. population at that time in terms of age, sex, and certain other demographic characteristics. Because the same basic sampling plan was used in Cycle III as in the earlier Cycle II, nearly one-third of the children examined in Cycle II were also examined in Cycle III. In the Cycle III Extended Data Tape (EDT), provision has been made for the user to identify sample persons examined in both surveys and to create from the Cycle II Integrated Data Tape (IDT) and the Cycle III EDT a composite data set for longitudinal studies.

The NHES III data contains responses to detailed questionnaires for medical and developmental histories; responses to school questionnaires; results of medical, dental, and psychological examinations, and vision and hearing tests; anthropometric measurements; and certain x-rays and laboratory tests.