Component Description
The Current Health Status section (variable name prefix HSQ) provides personal interview data on overall health assessment, recent illness (past 30 days), blood donation, and AIDS testing.
Eligible Sample
Study participants 1 - 11 years old are only asked 3 questions regarding recent illness (HSQ500, HSQ510, HSQ520). The remaining questions are asked of participants 12 years of age and older, except for the blood donation and AIDS testing questions which are asked of participants 16 years of age and older.
Interview Setting and Mode of Administration
A trained interviewer administrated the MEC CAPI Interview for study participants 12 and older, and the MEC Dietary Interview for study participants 1-11 years old (proxy interview).
Quality Assurance & Quality Control
The Current Health Status Questionnaire (HSQ) data was systematically reviewed for logical, processing, and data input errors on a periodic basis during the process of data collection.
The computer CAPI system had built-in consistency checks, online information screens that provided the interviewers with information about the terms used in the questionnaires, and hard and soft edit checks to reduce the number of keying entry errors. All of the data was reviewed by the NHANES field office staff for accuracy and completeness.
Data Processing and Editing
The 2003–2004 Current Health Status Questionnaire (HSQ) data was verified against the main data file prior to public release.
Analytic Notes
HSD010 This identical question is asked in the Hospital Utilization section of the household questionnaire (HUQ010). There is a small difference in administration of the two questions: participants age 12-15 have proxy responses in the household and self-report at the mobile examination center. Many participants gave different responses to this question in the household compared to the MEC, so analysts should consider which of the two versions of the question to use in analyses.
HSQ500, HSQ510, and HSQ520 were asked in the Dietary Recall section of participants 1– 11 years of age. Respondents 12+ years of age were asked the same questions during the MEC CAPI Interview. (See HSAQUEX for source of data.) The HSQ data are publicly available at www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes.htm.
HSQ571 The question on blood donation, HSQ570, was re-worded in 2002 (dropping the phrase “a year ago”) and was re-numbered HSQ571. Responses to both versions of this question were combined into the derived variable of HSD570 for the 2001-2002 data release. For the 2003-2004 release, only question HSQ571 was asked.