DOI: 10.3886/icpsr36147.v1
title: National Health Interview Survey, 2013
title: Version 1

description: 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.
The redesigned NHIS questionnaire introduced in 1997 (see NATIONAL HEALTH INTERVIEW SURVEY, 1997 [ICPSR 2954]) consists of a Core that remains largely unchanged from year to year, plus an assortment of Supplements sponsored by other agencies than NCHS, with the assortment varying from year to year. The 2013 NHIS Core components contain Household, Family, Person, Sample Adult, and Sample Child files. 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 variables related to doctor visits, hospital stays, and health care access and utilization. A randomly-selected adult in each family was interviewed for Part 4, Sample Adult Level, regarding respiratory conditions, renal conditions, AIDS, joint symptoms, health status, limitation of daily activities, and behaviors such as smoking, alcohol consumption, and physical activity. Part 5, Sample Child Level, 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. 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, Family Disability Level, seeks to identify the subpopulation that is at a greater risk than the general population of experiencing restrictions in social participation, for example, restrictions in employment, education, or civic life. Part 8, Adult Functioning and Disability Level, contains information about a respondent's functioning in various basic and complex activity domains: vision, hearing, mobility, communication, cognition, upper body, affect, pain, and fatigue. Part 9, Paradata Level, does not contain health related information, but rather data which are related to the interview process, including measures of time, contact-ability, and cooperation.
description: The main objective of the NHIS is to monitor the health of the United States population through the collection and analysis of data on a broad range of health topics.
description: The data are not weighted. These data contain multiple weight variables for each part which must be used in any analysis. Users should refer to the User Guide for further information regarding the weights, their use, and their derivation.
description: Response Rates: The total household response rate was 75.7 percent.
The final response rate for the family component was 74.9 percent.
The final response rate for the sample child component was 69.0 percent.
The final response rate for the sample adult component was 61.2 percent.
description: The sample design follows a multistage area probability design that permits the representative sampling of households and noninstitutional group quarters (e.g., college dormitories). In order to increase the precision of estimates of the Black, Hispanic, and Asian populations, the current NHIS sample design oversamples Black persons, Hispanic persons, and Asian persons. In addition, the sample adult selection process provides that when Black, Hispanic, or Asian persons aged 65 years or older are present, they have an increased chance of being selected as the sample adult. For more information on sampling, please refer to the "NHIS Survey Description" section of the User Guide document.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Household Level
DS2: Family Level
DS3: Person Level
DS4: Sample Adult Level
DS5: Sample Child Level
DS6: Injury/Poison Episode Level
DS7: Family Disability Level
DS8: Adult Functioning and Disability Level
DS9: Paradata Level
description: Civilian, noninstitutionalized population of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Smallest Geographic Unit: Region (and pseudo-PSU)
description: computer-assisted personal interview (CAPI); face-to-face interview; telephone interviewThe User Guide contains information regarding the merging of files and the use of weight variables, along with information regarding changes to the 2013 NHIS.Please note that file names referenced in the user guide do not align with the names of files released by ICPSR.For more information about the National Health Interview Survey, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Web site.