DOI: 10.3886/icpsr06153.v1
title: Epidemiologic Catchment Area Study, 1980-1985: [United States]
title: Version 1

description: The Epidemiologic Catchment Area (ECA) program of research 
 was initiated in response to the 1977 report of the President's 
 Commission on Mental Health. The purpose was to collect data on the 
 prevalence and incidence of mental disorders and on the use of and need 
 for services by the mentally ill. Independent research teams at five 
 universities (Yale University, Johns Hopkins University, Washington 
 University, Duke University, and University of California at Los 
 Angeles), in collaboration with the National Institute for Mental 
 Health, conducted the studies with a core of common questions and 
 sample characteristics. The sites were areas that had previously been 
 designated as Community Mental Health Center catchment areas: New 
 Haven, Connecticut, Baltimore, Maryland, St. Louis, Missouri, Durham, 
 North Carolina, and Los Angeles, California. Each site sampled over 
 3,000 community residents and 500 residents of institutions, yielding 
 20,861 respondents overall. The longitudinal ECA design incorporated 
 two waves of personal interviews administered one year apart and a 
 brief telephone interview in between (for the household sample). The 
 diagnostic interview used in the ECA was the NIMH Diagnostic Interview 
 Schedule (DIS), Version III (with the exception of the Yale Wave I 
 survey, which used Version II). Diagnoses were categorized according to 
 the DIAGNOSTIC AND STATISTICAL MANUAL OF MENTAL DISORDERS, 3rd Edition 
 (DSM-III). Diagnoses derived from the DIS include manic episode, 
 dysthymia, bipolar disorder, single episode major depression, recurrent 
 major depression, atypical bipolar disorder, alcohol abuse or 
 dependence, drug abuse or dependence, schizophrenia, schizophreniform, 
 obsessive compulsive disorder, phobia, somatization, panic, antisocial 
 personality, and anorexia nervosa. The DIS uses the Mini-Mental State 
 Examination (MMSE), which measures cognitive functioning, as an 
 indirect measure of the DSM-III Organic Mental Disorders. In the ECA 
survey, this diagnosis is called cognitive impairment.
description: Multistage probability sampling. New Haven, Durham, and 
 Baltimore oversampled elderly respondents. St. Louis oversampled 
 Blacks, and Los Angeles sampled Hispanics within their minimum required 
sample size.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Raw Data File
DS2: SAS Data Definition Statements
DS3: SAS Transport File
DS4: Documentation, Volume One, Wave One Codebook
DS5: Documentation, Volume Two, Wave Two Codebook
DS6: Documentation, Volume Three, Wave One Data Book
description: Persons aged 18 and older residing in New Haven, 
 Connecticut, Baltimore, Maryland, St. Louis, Missouri, Durham, North 
Carolina, and Los Angeles, California.
description: This dataset represents the complete Epidemiologic 
 Catchment Area study. As such, it supersedes the Wave 1 household 
 sample data that were released in EPIDEMIOLOGIC CATCHMENT AREA (ECA) 
 SURVEY OF MENTAL DISORDERS, WAVE I (HOUSEHOLD), 1980-1985: [UNITED 
 STATES] (ICPSR 8993). The SAS transport file supplied by the principal 
 investigator was produced using the xcopy procedure in SAS Version 
 5.18. The Raw Data File, Part 1, was produced by ICPSR from the SAS 
 transport file supplied by the principal investigator. During 
 production of the Raw Data File, rounding errors were introduced in the 
 following variables: SW3, SW1, SW2, DIS092, D2S092, H2INCPCT, NAM, 
 N2AM, P2INCPCT, S2DSESH, S2DSESP, S2ESH, S2ESP, GRDEPCT, G2RDEPCT, 
 HINCPCT, H2INCPCT, PINCPCT, NAM, SESH, SDSESH, SESP, SDSESP. These 
rounding errors are never more than .00000001.