Table of Contents

Component Description

The Dietary Supplements and Prescription Medication Section (DSQ) of the Sample Person (SP) Questionnaire collects information on

  1. dietary supplements,
  2. nonprescription antacids,
  3. pain relievers/analgesics, and
  4. prescription medications.

This documentation describes the Analgesic Subsection which provides personal interview data on lifetime and current chronic use of specific prescription and non-prescription pain medications.

Eligible Sample

The eligible sample consisted of participants 20 years of age and older.

Interview Setting and Mode of Administration

These questions were asked before the physical examination, in the home, using the Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing-CAPI (interviewer administered) system.

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. Data were routinely examined for discrepancies and erroneous values.

Data Processing and Editing

Data Collection Methods

During the household interview, respondents were asked a series of questions about lifetime and current chronic use of specific prescription and non-prescription pain medications. Chronic use was defined as “use nearly every day for a month or longer”. Participants were shown a hand card with a list of pain-relieving products (Appendix) and were asked to identify which products, listed on the hand card, that they had taken nearly every day for a month or longer.

Data Editing

RXD300 - Pain Relievers drugs/over counter taken regularly
Participants were asked to report pain relievers taken nearly every day for a month or longer, same as data collected during the later part of the 2001-2002 survey.

RXD310 – Product taken
The ordering of products and inclusion of generic ingredient names were the same as data collected during the later part of the 2001-2002 survey.

RXD320 – Number of years taking product every day
The duration of use of pain relievers was originally reported in months or years. To facilitate analysis, all answers were converted to years. All responses less than 1 year were coded to a value of 666.

RXD330 – Currently taking product every day
Participants were asked whether they have used pain relievers in the past 30 days. Those who provided an affirmative answer were asked follow-up questions to identify which products, listed on the hand card, that they had taken and how many days they had used the product in the past 30 days. Persons who reported the use of a pain reliever and reported using a given product for greater than 21 days were identified as a current chronic pain reliever user in RXD330, same as data collected during the later part of the 2001-2002 survey.

Analytic Notes

This file is a drug product level file. Therefore, participants, who reported the use of multiple pain relieving products, will have a record for each product. Note that these data do not differentiate between prescription and non-prescription analgesics. The analyst should also be aware of the above data editing before analyzing the data.

During the 2003-2004 survey, household interviewers were required to record the strength of each product that survey participant reported to have used in the past 30 days. New variables RXQ355 (container seen by interviewer) and RXQ360Q/G/U (strength of product, quantity of strength, unite of strength on bottle) were first released in the 2003-2004 data file, and would not be found in the earlier data files.

Please refer to the Analytic Guidelines for further details on the use of sample weights and other analytic issues. The Analytic Guidelines are available on the NHANES website.

Codebook and Frequencies

SEQN - Respondent sequence number

Variable Name:
SEQN
SAS Label:
Respondent sequence number
English Text:
Respondent sequence number.
Target:
Both males and females 20 YEARS - 150 YEARS

RXD300 - Drugs/over counter taken regularly

Variable Name:
RXD300
SAS Label:
Drugs/over counter taken regularly
English Text:
The next questions are about certain prescription and over the counter pain relievers that {you/SP} may be using now or may have used in the past on a regular basis. You may have told me about some of these pain relievers earlier. I have some different questions specifically about pain relievers. {Have you/has SP} ever taken any of these prescription or over-the-counter pain relievers nearly every day for a month or longer?
English Instructions:
HAND CARD DSQ2
Target:
Both males and females 20 YEARS - 150 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
1 Yes 1534 1534
2 No 3689 5223 End of Section
7 Refused 6 5229 End of Section
9 Don't know 6 5235 End of Section
. Missing 8 5243

RXD310 - Product taken

Variable Name:
RXD310
SAS Label:
Product taken
English Text:
Which products {have you/has SP} taken?
English Instructions:
CODE ALL THAT APPLY. HAND CARD DSQ2. CAPI INSTRUCTION: DISPLAY PRODUCT LIST OF PAIN RELIEVING PRODUCTS. (ADD " --ALSO ALEVE" AFTER "NAPROSYN " IN THE RESPONSE CATEGORIES.)
Target:
Both males and females 20 YEARS - 150 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
10 Aspirin - also buffered aspirin products such as Anacin, Bayer, Bufferin, Midol, Ascripton, Ecotrin, Pabrin and Alka Seltzer 821 821
11 Tylenol - also other acetaminophen products, including sinus products such as Anacin-3, Dristan AF, and Comtrex 315 1136
12 Ibuprofen - also Advil, Nuprin, Motrin IB (including cold and sinus products containing ibuprofen) 245 1381
13 Excedrin 20 1401
14 Vanquish 0 1401
15 Feldene 4 1405
16 Voltarin 12 1417
17 Clinoril 1 1418
18 Indocin 5 1423
19 Naprosyn - also Aleve 97 1520
20 Tolectin 1 1521
77 Refused 1 1522
99 Don't know 12 1534
. Missing 3709 5243

RXD320 - # years taking product every day

Variable Name:
RXD320
SAS Label:
# years taking product every day
English Text:
Please think about {your/SP's} use of pain reliever products during {your/his/her} lifetime. For how many years did {you/s/he} use {PRODUCT NAME} nearly every day? Please do not count the months or years when {you were/s/he was} not taking the medicine.
English Instructions:
ENTER NUMBER OF YEARS
Target:
Both males and females 20 YEARS - 150 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
1 to 50 Range of Values 949 949
555 More than 1 year unspecified 0 949
666 Less than one year 366 1315
777 Refused 0 1315
999 Don't know 15 1330
. Missing 3913 5243

RXD330 - Currently taking product every day

Variable Name:
RXD330
SAS Label:
Currently taking product every day
English Text:
{Do you/Does SP} currently use or take {PRODUCT NAME} daily or nearly every day?
English Instructions:
IF NO, REFUSED OR DON'T KNOW, ASK RXQ.320 - RXQ.331 FOR NEXT PAIN RELIEVER. IF NO NEXT PAIN RELIEVER, GO TO END OF SECTION.
Target:
Both males and females 20 YEARS - 150 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
1 Yes 926 926
2 No 605 1531 End of Section
7 Refused 0 1531 End of Section
9 Don't know 3 1534 End of Section
. Missing 3709 5243

RXD331Q - # of pills/doses taken/day

Variable Name:
RXD331Q
SAS Label:
# of pills/doses taken/day
English Text:
On average, how many pills or doses of {PRODUCT NAME} {do you/does SP} take in a single day?
English Instructions:
ENTER NUMBER (OF PILLS OR DOSES)
Target:
Both males and females 20 YEARS - 150 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
1 to 23 Range of Values 924 924
7777 Refused 0 924
9999 Don't know 0 924
. Missing 4319 5243

RXD331U - Unit of measure (pills/doses)

Variable Name:
RXD331U
SAS Label:
Unit of measure (pills/doses)
English Text:
UNIT OF MEASURE
English Instructions:
ENTER UNIT
Target:
Both males and females 20 YEARS - 150 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
1 Pills 913 913
2 Doses 11 924
7 Refused 0 924
9 Don't know 0 924
. Missing 4319 5243

RXQ355 - Container seen by interviewer

Variable Name:
RXQ355
SAS Label:
Container seen by interviewer
English Text:
Interviewer: enter 1 response
English Instructions:
CAPI INSTRUCTION: DISPLAY PRODUCT NAME AS LEFT HEADER
Target:
Both males and females 20 YEARS - 150 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
1 Container seen 728 728
2 Container not seen 196 924 End of Section
. Missing 4319 5243

RXQ360G - Strength of product

Variable Name:
RXQ360G
SAS Label:
Strength of product
English Text:
Interviewer: Record strength of product
English Instructions:
CAPI INSTRUCTION: DISPLAY PRODUCT NAME AS LEFT HEADER
Target:
Both males and females 20 YEARS - 150 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
1 Enter strength 699 699
2 Information not on bottle/container 18 717 End of Section
3 Multiple ingredient product 11 728 End of Section
. Missing 4515 5243

RXQ360Q - Quantity of strength

Variable Name:
RXQ360Q
SAS Label:
Quantity of strength
English Text:
Quantity of strength
English Instructions:
ENTER NUMBER
Target:
Both males and females 20 YEARS - 150 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
5 to 800 Range of Values 698 698
7777 Refused 0 698
9999 Don't know 1 699
. Missing 4544 5243

RXQ360U - Unit of strength on bottle

Variable Name:
RXQ360U
SAS Label:
Unit of strength on bottle
English Text:
Unit of strength on bottle
English Instructions:
ENTER UNIT
Target:
Both males and females 20 YEARS - 150 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
1 Microgram (mcg) 7 7
2 Milligram (mg) 667 674
3 Gram (g) 1 675
4 Microgram/Milliliter 0 675
5 Milligram/Milliliter 21 696
6 Gram/Milliliter 0 696
7 Other 2 698
77 Refused 0 698
99 Don't know 1 699
. Missing 4544 5243