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National Health Examination Survey, Cycle I (NHES I) Public-use Data File

Survey description
Data file description
List of data file variables
Technical characteristics
Geographic coverage
Data availability
Ordering information
Documentation contents
Related reports
Contacts  
NHANES Web Site

Survey description
The National Health Examination Survey, Cycle I (NHES I) was conducted on a nationwide probability sample of approximately 7,800 persons 18-79 years of age.  Upon completion of the cycle, 7,710 sample persons had been interviewed; of these, 6,672 were examined.  Adjusted sampling weights were computed to inflate the sample so as to closely reflect the 111 million persons 18-79 years of age in the noninstitutionalized civilian population of the United States at the midpoint of the survey.

Data file description
Data tapes from NHES I are organized by subject.  The person and demographic characteristics tape is a master tape intended for use in conjunction with any or all other data tapes in the set.  It contains demographic, socioeconomic, and geographic classification information not available on most of the other data tapes, along with the sample weight for each examined person.  A uniform sequence file number on all data tapes permits the user to merge any the tapes.

List of data file variables at a glance
Demographic characteristics, ages 18079 years (Tape no. 1001)
Demographic characteristics, household characteristics, and characteristics of geographic location for each sample person are released for this data file.

Psychological distress, ages 18-79 years (Tape no. 1002)
This data file has demographic characteristics and additional items from responses to questions relating to the symptoms of psychological distress.

Physical measurements, ages 18-79 years (Tape no. 1003)
This file contains information on height, weight, and a series of body and skinfold measurements.

Cardiovascular data, ages 18-79 years (tape no. 1004)
This data files contains responses to selected items on a self-administered medical history questionnaire; results of a physician's examination related to the cardiovascular system; and Blood pressure, electrocardiograph, and chest x-ray readings.

Osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, ages 18-79 years (Tape no. 1005)
Results of a physician's examination related to osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis are contained on this file, as well as readings of hand, feet, and hand-and-feet, and hand-and-feet x-rays.  Responses to questions about the diagnosis and treatment of arthritis for each sample person are released on this data set.

Dental findings, ages 18-79 years (Tape no. 1006)
The results of a dental examination focusing on dental status and indexes and responses to questions about the frequency and nature of dental treatment are contained on this data set.

Diabetes findings, ages 18-79 years (Tape no. 1007)
This file contains results of glucose tolerance test for diabetes; responses to questions about the history of diagnosis and treatment of diabetes for each sample person; and serum cholesterol values.

Vision data, ages 18-79 years (Tape no. 1008)
This file contains responses to questions about the history of optometric treatment.   Additionally, results of a standardized eye examination including near-and distance-vision screening are contained on the he file as well.

Data file technical characteristics
All files are fixed-length, blocked files.  Other data tape characteristics are:

Geographic coverage
NHES I included the civilian noninstitutionalized U.S. population 18-79 years of age.

Data availability
The NHES I data tape contains all data collected over the entire course of the survey: October 1959-December 1962.  Data from this survey are only available on tape.   Other studies related to this survey are HHANES, NHANES I, NHANES II, NHANES III and NHES, Cycle 2 and Cycle 3.

Ordering information
Data tapes from the NHES I can only be purchased through the National Technical Information Service (NTIS). The NTIS order numbers are as follows:

Data on tape

Documentation contents
Data tape documentation packages contain a brief description of NHES I, a file description, and a detailed description of data items, and detailed notes on items judged not to be self-explanatory.

Related reports
A detailed description of the design and operation of NHES I is provided in Vital and Health Statistics, Series 1, No. 4, which contains a discussion of the contents of NHES I and the rationale and purpose for the inclusion of various components of the examination.  Some reports that contain results from Cycle I of the National Health Examination Survey are Vital and Health Statistics, Series 11, Nos.  3, 21, 22, 31, 33, and 38.

This page last reviewed September 04, 2008