HOW DO I USE THE NEW DRUG DATA? (with added information for 2008 data)


     Q.  How can I compare drug data across years when the classification 
     system is different starting with 2006 data? 

     A.  NCHS has developed a SAS program that will read in a previous year 
     of NAMCS or NHAMCS data, match medication codes from that dataset with 
     codes from the current ambulatory care drug database, and then drop the 
     old drug characteristics associated with that medication code, while 
     replacing them with the new Multum characteristics.  The original program 
     DRUGCHAR_MULTUM_2006.SAS can be downloaded from the Ambulatory Health Care 
     Data website, along with the ASCII text file MEDCODE_DRUGID_MAP_2006.DATA 
     that is used to replace the drug characteristics.  Programs and databases 
     for 2007 and 2008 are also available, and will continue to be added for 
     each new year of data.  
     
     It is recommended that you always use the MOST RECENT database and program 
     to add drug characteristics backwards, but programs and databases for prior years 
     are being retained in separate folders for historical purposes.  The SAS 
     programs are ready to use, only requiring that you change path names in the 
     program to reflect your own situation.  Each new program should work for ALL 
     previous years of data. For example, the 2008 program and database are currently
     the latest version, and can be used to update drug characteristics on all previous
     years of drug data.  The only caveat is that by updating drug characteristics
     to the current year, you may lose older characteristics that may be of interest.
     For example, if a drug was a prescription-only preparation in 1995 and switched to
     over-the-counter in 2007, by using the 2008 characteristics, the drug would be
     coded as over-the-counter for all years of data.  

     Q.  How can the ingredient data be combined with the basic public use 
     file? 

     A.  NCHS has also developed a SAS program that will add the ingredient file
     to the basic public use file, matching on the DRUGID variable.  This program
     and the corresponding ingredient file were first developed for use with 2006  
     data (ADD_DRUG_INGREDIENTS_2006.SAS and DRUG_INGREDIENTS_2006.DATA). These 
     programs and files continue to be added as each new year of data is released.

     All of these resources can be downloaded at the Ambulatory Health Care Data 
     website in the Dataset Documentation section, under a directory on the ftp server 
     called 'drugs'.

     IMPORTANT NOTE: The ingredient programs and files are year-specific.  In other 
     words, if you want to add ingredients to the 2006 file, use the 2006 program and 
     ingredient file. It is not recommended that you use the 2007 program and 
     ingredient file with non-2007 survey years, or vice versa. The programs only 
     require that you change path names in the programs to reflect your own situation.  

     Need More Information? 

     SAS exercises (including examples of how to use the programs above) and 
     a PowerPoint presentation, which were developed for a workshop at the 
     2008 NCHS Data Users Conference, are also available for downloading at 
     our website under Staff Presentations.  Updated SAS exercises and the PowerPoint 
     presentation from the recent 2010 National Conference on Health Statistics should 
     be available at the website in the near future. 

     If you need more information or technical assistance, please contact 
     the Ambulatory and Hospital Care Statistics Branch at 301-458-4600.