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
The current health status questionnaire was done during the physical examination, at the examination center, using the Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing-CAPI (interviewer administered) system for study participants 12 and older. It was conducted by a dietary interviewer, during the dietary recall interview, at the examination center, for study participants 1-11 years old (proxy interview).
Quality Assurance & Quality Control
The CAPI system is programmed with built-in consistency checks to reduce data entry errors. CAPI also uses online help screens to assist interviewers in defining key terms used in the questionnaire.
All of the data was reviewed by the NHANES field office staff for accuracy and completeness.
Data Processing and Editing
The 2005–2006 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 the administration of the two questions. Participants 12-15 years old have proxy responses in the household but respond for themselves at the mobile examination center. Many participants had different responses to this question in the household interview, compared to their responses in the MEC interview. Analysts should consider which of the two versions of this question is best to use for the purposes of their analyses.
HSQ500, HSQ510, and HSQ520 were asked in the Dietary Recall section for participants 1– 11 years of age. Respondents 12 years and older 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. For the 2001-2002 data release, responses to both versions of this question were combined into one variable, named HSD570. For the 2003-2004 and 2005-2006 release, only question HSQ571 was asked.
Please refer to the NHANES Analytic Guidelines and the on-line NHANES Tutorial for further details on the use of sample weights and other analytic issues. Both of these are available on the NHANES website.