What is the NHIS Cancer Control Supplement (CCS)?

The NHIS CCS (also known as the Cancer Control Module) is administered every few years and focuses on issues pertaining to knowledge, attitudes, and practices in cancer-related health behaviors and cancer screening use. The NHIS CCS is co-sponsored by the National Cancer Institute and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CCS covers a variety of topics including, but not limited to:

• Diet and Nutrition,
• Physical Activity,
• Cancer Screening,
• Sun Avoidance,
• Tobacco Use and Control,
• Genetic Testing,
• Family History, and
• Cancer Risk Assessment.

Before 2005, respondents also were asked about their ethnicity, and if they identified themselves as Hispanic/Latino, they were administered a section on Hispanic Acculturation. In 2005, NCI replaced the Hispanic Acculturation section with questions on language and time in the United States that were asked of all respondents.

The CCS was first administered in 1987 to one sample adult aged 18 years or older in each household that participated in the NHIS. The CCS was subsequently administered in 1992, 2000, and 2005, and plans are currently underway to field it again in 2010. A subset of cancer screening questions has been administered intermittently since 2000.

From 1987 to 1992, the CCS used a split-sample design which allowed administration of more questions. Starting in 2000, NCI abandoned this design and all questions were administered to the entire adult sample in order to increase the sample size in population subgroups. Additionally, survey items were limited to behaviors only.

For more information on the NHIS, including questionnaires, documentation, and datasets, please visit the NCHS Web site.