1988 NATIONAL HEALTH INTERVIEW SURVEY 03/29/2007 PUBLIC USE DATA RELEASE * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * WARNING - DATA USE RESTRICTIONS! Read Carefully before Using The Public Health Service Act (Section 308 (d)) provides that the data collected by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), may be used only for the purpose of health statistical reporting and analysis. Any effort to determine the identity of any reported case is prohibited by this law. NCHS does all it can to assure that the identity of data subjects cannot be disclosed. All direct identifiers, as well as any characteristics that might lead to identification, are omitted from the data files. Any intentional identification or disclosure of a person or establishment violates the assurances of confidentiality given to the providers of the information. Therefore, users will: 1. Use the data in these data files for statistical reporting and analysis only. 2. Make no use of the identity of any person or establishment discovered inadvertently and advise the Director, NCHS, of any such discovery (301-458-4000). 3. Not link these data files with individually identifiable data from other NCHS or non-NCHS data files. By using these data, you signify your agreement to comply with the above-stated statutorily based requirements. INTRODUCTION The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) is conducted annually by the National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The NHIS administers face-to-face interviews in a nationally representative sample of households. Each week a probability sample of the civilian non- institutionalized population of the United States is interviewed by personnel of the U.S. Bureau of the Census. Information is obtained about the health and other characteristics of each member of the household. The NHIS includes a basic questionnaire that remains the same each year plus one or more additional questionnaires that change periodically. More information on the survey in general and the 1988 version, in particular, is found in the Current Estimates Series report: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_173.pdf NOTES TO USERS Users are advised to subscribe to the NHIS Listserv to receive notice of any corrections/updates. For information about joining the Listserv, see the CONTACT INFORMATION section at the bottom of this document. 1988 NHIS FILES AND DOCUMENTATION The 1988 NHIS files and related documentation have been previously distributed via various formats -- magnetic tape, Statistical Export and Tabulation System (SETS) CDs, etc. The files listed below comprise the 1988 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) public use data release as found on the Internet. A copy of this file (README.TXT) is located in ASCII format at the following ftp location: ftp://ftp.cdc.gov/pub/Health_Statistics/NCHS/Program_Code/NHIS/1988 1988 NHIS DATA FILES Five 1988 NHIS files are referred to as "core" files because they were administered each year (through 1996) without major modification. The five core files are Household, Person, Condition, Doctor Visit, and Hospital. The 1988 NHIS data have been divided into eleven data files, consisting of the five core files and six supplemental files. For ease of transmission, each of the 1988 NHIS data files has been converted into a self-extracting compressed format. To load and expand a compressed file into an ASCII file, perform the following steps: Download a compressed file onto your hard drive into an appropriate directory (folder). For example: Copy the data file HOUSEHLD.EXE into a directory called NHIS1988. To do this, create a directory on your C: drive called NHIS1988. Then, using your browser, go to the FTP site containing the 1988 NHIS data files (see address at end of this section). Right click on the HOUSEHLD.EXE file. Depending on your browser, select Save Link As... or Save Target As... Type c:\nhis1988\HOUSEHLD.EXE in the box labeled File Name and hit Enter. To then extract HOUSEHLD.EXE into the ASCII file HOUSEHLD.DAT, go to the directory NHIS1988 and do the following: - From DOS - in the c:\nhis1988 directory, type HOUSEHLD and hit Enter - From Windows - Double-click on HOUSEHLD.EXE or Click the Start Button, Click Run, enter c:\nhis1988\HOUSEHLD.EXE and hit Enter. The ASCII file HOUSEHLD.DAT will be generated which can then be used for processing by PC statistical software packages which utilize ASCII formatted input, or transferred to another computer for processing. NOTE: The 1988 NHIS files are large in size. Please use caution and check your disk drive capacity before extracting. 1988 NHIS DATA FILES RECORD NHIS FILE TYPE FILE NAME LENGTH # RECS ------------------- ------------ ------ ------- HOUSEHOLD HOUSEHLD.DAT 335 50,061 PERSON PERSONSX.DAT 335 122,310 CONDITION CONDITON.DAT 335 88,345 DOCTOR VISIT DRVISITX.DAT 335 25,541 HOSPITAL HOSPITAL.DAT 335 13,580 AIDS K AND A AIDSKNOW.DAT 540 29,659 ALCOHOL ALCOHOLX.DAT 710 43,809 CHILD HEALTH CHLDHLTH.DAT 2290 17,110 MDI DEVICES MDEVICES.DAT 410 7,600 MDI PERSONS MDIPERSN.DAT 410 122,310 OCCUPAT HEALTH OCHEALTH.DAT 1540 44,233 Note: The above data files are the unzipped files in ASCII format. The 1988 NHIS data files are located at: ftp://ftp.cdc.gov/pub/Health_Statistics/NCHS/Datasets/NHIS/1988 1988 NHIS FILE LAYOUTS (CODEBOOKS) There is a file layout (also called codebook or data dictionary) for with each data file. The file layouts are in PDF format and can be viewed with Adobe Acrobat software. The Adobe Acrobat Reader software can be downloaded from the Adobe Acrobat Web site at: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html File File Name Description of Component Format AIDSKNOW.PDF AIDS Knowledge and Attitudes file layout Adobe PDF ALCOHOLX.PDF Alcohol file layout Adobe PDF CHLDHLTH.PDF Child Health file layout Adobe PDF MDEVICES.PDF Medical Devices file layout Adobe PDF MDIPERSN.PDF Medical Devices Person file layout Adobe PDF NHISCORE.PDF* Core files layout Adobe PDF OCHEALTH.PDF Occupational Health file layout Adobe PDF *NHISCORE.PDF contains the file layouts for the following five core files: Household, Person, Condition, Doctor Visit, and Hospital. The 1988 NHIS data file layout documentation files are located at: ftp://ftp.cdc.gov/pub/Health_Statistics/NCHS/Dataset_Documentation/NHIS/1988 1988 NHIS SAS INPUT STATEMENTS Sample SAS programs containing input statements have been provided for each data file. By using the ASCII data files (.DAT files) as input to these programs, SAS data files can be created. The SAS input statement programs are stored in ASCII format. File File Name Description of Component Format HOUSEHLD.SAS Household file SAS program ASCII PERSONSX.SAS Person file SAS program ASCII CONDITON.SAS Condition file SAS program ASCII DRVISITX.SAS Doctor Visit file SAS program ASCII HOSPITAL.SAS Hospital file SAS program ASCII AIDSKNOW.SAS AIDS Knowledge and Attitudes file SAS program ASCII ALCOHOLX.SAS Alcohol file SAS program ASCII CHLDHLTH.SAS Child Health file SAS program ASCII MDIREC61.SAS Medical Devices file SAS program, record type 61 ASCII MDIREC62.SAS Medical Devices file SAS program, record type 62 ASCII MDIREC63.SAS Medical Devices file SAS program, record type 63 ASCII MDIREC64.SAS Medical Devices file SAS program, record type 64 ASCII MDIREC65.SAS Medical Devices file SAS program, record type 65 ASCII MDIREC66.SAS Medical Devices file SAS program, record type 66 ASCII MDIPERSN.SAS Medical Devices Person file SAS program ASCII OCHEALTH.SAS Occupational Health file SAS program ASCII The 1988 NHIS sample SAS input statement programs are located at: ftp://ftp.cdc.gov/pub/Health_Statistics/NCHS/Program_Code/NHIS/1988 1988 NHIS SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES AND FLASHCARDS The 1988 NHIS questionnaires and flashcards can be found as an appendix to the 1988 Current Estimates publication which is on the Internet at: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_173.pdf MISCELLANEOUS All information collected in the survey is from reports by responsible family members residing in the household. When possible, all adult family members participate in the interview. However, proxy responses are accepted for family members who are not at home and are required for all children and for family members who are physically or mentally incapable of responding for themselves. Although a considerable effort is made to ensure accurate reporting, the information from both proxy respondents and self-respondents may be inaccurate because the respondent is unaware of relevant information, has forgotten it, does not wish to reveal it to an interviewer, or does not understand the intended meaning of a question. Data from the special health topics (supplements) and core in 1988 were collected for 52 weeks. The sample for the NHIS is redesigned every decade using population data from the most recent decennial census. The design used in 1988 was used in 1985-1994. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * CONTACT INFORMATION Updates about new data releases, publications, or errors will be sent to members of the NHIS Listserv. To join, visit the CDC website at: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/about/major/nhis/nhislist.htm For additional information on the NHIS, visit the website at: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis.htm If you have questions or comments on any aspect of the NHIS, please contact us: E-mail : nhislist@cdc.gov Call : 301-458-4901 FAX : 301-458-4035 Mail : DHHS:PHS:CDC:NCHS:DHIS 3311 Toledo RD Room 2217 Hyattsville MD 20782 Home Page: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis.htm For additional information on NCHS data products, contact the: Data Dissemination Branch, NCHS 3311 Toledo Road Hyattsville, MD 20782 Tel: 1-301-458-4636 or 1-866-441-NCHS E-mail: nchsquery@cdc.gov Internet: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/ * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * STATEMENT OF AUTHENTICITY This material has been cleared for public distribution by CDC/ATSDR and will be authentic if obtained directly from ftp://ftp.cdc.gov/pub/Health_Statistics/NCHS/. CDC/ATSDR takes all effort to assure the authenticity of electronically distributed documents. However, in all instances where the electronic and official agency record differ, the authenticity of the official agency record is controlling. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *