Survey
description The Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III), 1988-94, was
conducted on a nationwide probability sample of approximately 33,994 persons 2 months and
over. The survey was designed to obtain nationally representative information on the
health and nutritional status of the population of the United States through interviews
and direct physical examinations. Physical examinations and objective measures are
employed because the information collected cannot be furnished or is not available in a
standardized manner through interviews with the people themselves or through records
maintained by the health professionals who provide their medical care.
Some of the 30 topics investigated in
the NHANES III were: high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, obesity, passive
smoking, lung disease, osteoporosis, HIV, hepatitis, helicobacter pylori, immunization
status, diabetes, allergies, growth and development, blood lead, anemia, food sufficiency,
dietary intake-including fats, antioxidants, and nutritional blood measures.
The NHANES III consists of five separate files: Adult Household Data, Youth Household
Data, Examination Data, Laboratory Data, and Dietary Recall Data. These data files are
from the full 6 years of the NHANES III, 1988-94, and contains nearly all the data
collected in the survey.
The following list describes the specific characteristics of each file. The block size
and record length pertain to data stored on tape.
Title
Record
length
Block
size
Number of
records
Adult household data
3,346
23,422
20,050
Lab data
1,977
21,747
29,314
Youth household data
2,101
23,111
13,944
Examination data
6,233
18,699
31,311
Dietary recall data
Combination food
164
23,452
86,900
Individual food frequency
208
23,296
448,892
Variable ingredient food
38
23,446
126,070
Geographic coverage
The NHANES III included the civilian noninstituionalized population of the
conterminous United States.
Data
availability
The NHANES III data files contain all data collected over the entire course of the survey.
Data are available ontape
and CD-ROM. Data on CD-ROM
with the Statistical Export and Tabulation System (SETS)
retrieval software contain all files, except for the Dietary recall data files.
Additionally, a separate CD-ROM contains a complete set of the five NHANES III data files
and documentation, as well as the necessary SAS code to create SAS data sets in ASCII
format.
Ordering
information Data tapes from the NHANES III can only be purchased through the National Technical
Information Service (NTIS). The
CD-ROM can be purchased from NTIS and the Government Printing Office (GPO). The NTIS and GPO order numbers are as
follows:
Documentation
contents Each NHANES III product contains the necessary documentation, including tape content
and technical information, needed to access the data. All documentation is included
electronically on the data tape and CD-ROMs.
The NHANES III Anthropometric
Video contains the standardized anthropometric procedures used throughout
NHANES III for the body measurement component of the survey.
Related
reports Background information on the procedures, survey components, questionnaires,
examination and laboratory methods, and statistical analysis guidelines is available on
the NHANES III Reference Manuals and Reports (CD-ROM).
All data users are strongly encouraged to review these reference materials and reports
before analyzing the data.
A detailed description of the design
and operation of NHANES III is provided in Vital and Health Statistics, Series 1, No. 32,
which contain a detailed analysis of NHANES III. Survey results are available in the
Advance Data Nos. 255 and 258.
Additional survey results will be published in Series 11 of the Vital and
Health Statistics series.
Contacts
For publications and electronic data products from NHANES: call (301) 458-4636 or NTIS or
GPO.
Technical questions about
the file contact:
Division of Health Examination Statistics
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National Center for Health Statistics
3311 Toledo Road
Hyattsville, Maryland 20782-2003
(301) 458-4567