Summary: | The National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys
(NHANES I, II, III, Hispanic HANES, and NHANES I Epidemiologic Followup
Survey [NHEFS]) were designed to obtain information on the health and
nutritional status of the United States population. The NHANES I and
NHANES II datasets were formerly titled HEALTH AND NUTRITION EXAMINATION
SURVEYS by ICPSR. This series succeeds the National Center for Health
Statistics' NATIONAL HEALTH EXAMINATION SURVEY series, which was
collected from 1959 to 1970. All of the NHANES datasets use complex,
multistage, stratified, clustered samples of civilian
noninstitutionalized populations. All of the files within each study are
linkable to each other. The NHANES I (1971-1975) interviewed a sample of
31,973 persons aged 1-74 years. The sample was selected so that certain
population groups thought to be at high risk of malnutrition (persons
with low incomes, preschool children, women of childbearing age, and the
elderly) were oversampled at preset rates. On completion of the survey,
23,808 of the interviewed sample were given a medical examination, and
this information is also part of the NHANES I data collections. The
NHANES I Epidemiologic Followup Study (NHEFS) is a longitudinal study
designed to investigate the relationships between clinical, nutritional,
and behavioral factors assessed in NHANES I and subsequent morbidity,
mortality, and hospital utilization, as well as changes in risk factors,
functional limitation, and institutionalization. The NHEFS cohort
includes all persons aged 25-74 who completed a medical examination for
NHANES I (N = 14,407). The second National Health and Nutrition
Examination Survey, NHANES II (1976-1980), was designed to continue the
measurement and monitoring of the nutritional status and health of the
United States population. From the sample of 27,801 persons aged 6
months to 74 years, 25,286 people were interviewed and 20,322 were both
interviewed and examined. Because children and persons classified as
living at or below the poverty level were assumed to be at special risk
of having nutritional problems, they were sampled at rates substantially
higher than their proportions in the general population. The NHANES III
(1988-1994) contains information on a sample of 33,994 persons aged 2
months and older. A home examination was employed for the first time in
order to obtain examination data for very young children and for the
elderly. The Hispanic HANES (HHANES) was conducted to obtain sufficient
numbers to produce estimates of the health and nutritional status of
Hispanics in general, as well as specific data for Puerto Ricans,
Mexican Americans, and Cuban Americans. Included in the survey are
Mexican Americans from Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and
California (N = 7,462), Cuban Americans from Dade County, Florida (N =
1,357), and Puerto Ricans from the New York area, including parts of New
Jersey and Connecticut (N = 2,834). |
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