Table of Contents

Component Description

The NHANES program suspended field operations in March 2020 due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. As a result, data collection for the NHANES 2019-2020 cycle was not completed and the collected data are not nationally representative. Therefore, data collected from 2019 to March 2020 were combined with data from the NHANES 2017-2018 cycle to form a nationally representative sample of NHANES 2017-March 2020 pre-pandemic data. These data are available to the public. Please refer to the Analytic Notes section for more details on the use of the data.

A nine-item depression screening instrument (variable prefix is DPQ), also called the Patient Health Questionnaire (Kroenke and Spitzer, 2002; Kroenke et al., 2001) was administered to determine the frequency of depression symptoms over the past 2 weeks. For each symptom question, points ranging from 0 to 3, are associated with the response categories "not at all," "several days," "more than half the days," and "nearly every day.” This screening instrument incorporates DSM-IV depression diagnostic criteria (Spitzer et al.,1999).

Eligible Sample

Participants aged 12 years and over in the NHANES 2017-March 2020 pre-pandemic sample were eligible. Only data from participants aged 12 to 17 years included in this data file.

Interview Setting and Mode of Administration

The questions were asked at the Mobile Examination Center (MEC), by trained interviewers, using the Computer-Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) system as part of the MEC interview.

Quality Assurance & Quality Control

The CAPI system is programmed with built-in consistency checks to reduce data entry errors.

Data Processing and Editing

Edits were made to ensure completeness, consistency, and analytic usefulness of the data.

Analytic Notes

The COVID-19 pandemic required suspension of NHANES 2019-2020 field operations in March 2020 after data were collected in 18 of the 30 survey locations in the 2019-2020 sample. Because the collected data from 18 locations were not nationally representative, these data were combined with data from the previous cycle (2017-2018) to create a 2017-March 2020 pre-pandemic data file. A special weighting process was applied to the 2017-March 2020 pre-pandemic data file. The examination sample weights in the demographic data file should be used to calculate estimates from the combined cycles. These sample weights are not appropriate for independent analyses of the 2019-2020 data and will not yield nationally representative results for either the 2017-2018 data alone or the 2019-March 2020 data alone. Please refer to the NHANES website for additional information for the NHANES 2017-March 2020 pre-pandemic data, and for the previous 2017-2018 public use data file with specific weights for that 2-year cycle.

A total score, ranging from 0 to 27, can be calculated for persons who have complete responses to the symptom questions. Major depression and depression severity can be assessed using pre-defined cut-points, described in the references.

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.

References

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 12 YEARS - 17 YEARS

DPQ010 - Have little interest in doing things

Variable Name:
DPQ010
SAS Label:
Have little interest in doing things
English Text:
Over the last 2 weeks, how often have you been bothered by the following problems: little interest or pleasure in doing things? Would you say...
English Instructions:
HAND CARD DPQ1
Target:
Both males and females 12 YEARS - 17 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
0 Not at all 1008 1008
1 Several days 253 1261
2 More than half the days 84 1345
3 Nearly every day 32 1377
7 Refused 0 1377
9 Don't know 2 1379
. Missing 65 1444

DPQ020 - Feeling down, depressed, or hopeless

Variable Name:
DPQ020
SAS Label:
Feeling down, depressed, or hopeless
English Text:
[Over the last 2 weeks, how often have you been bothered by the following problems:] feeling down, depressed, or hopeless?
English Instructions:
HAND CARD DPQ1
Target:
Both males and females 12 YEARS - 17 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
0 Not at all 1072 1072
1 Several days 213 1285
2 More than half the days 70 1355
3 Nearly every day 24 1379
7 Refused 0 1379
9 Don't know 0 1379
. Missing 65 1444

DPQ030 - Trouble sleeping or sleeping too much

Variable Name:
DPQ030
SAS Label:
Trouble sleeping or sleeping too much
English Text:
[Over the last 2 weeks, how often have you been bothered by the following problems:] trouble falling or staying asleep, or sleeping too much?
English Instructions:
HAND CARD DPQ1
Target:
Both males and females 12 YEARS - 17 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
0 Not at all 818 818
1 Several days 358 1176
2 More than half the days 119 1295
3 Nearly every day 83 1378
7 Refused 1 1379
9 Don't know 0 1379
. Missing 65 1444

DPQ040 - Feeling tired or having little energy

Variable Name:
DPQ040
SAS Label:
Feeling tired or having little energy
English Text:
[Over the last 2 weeks, how often have you been bothered by the following problems:] feeling tired or having little energy?
English Instructions:
HAND CARD DPQ1
Target:
Both males and females 12 YEARS - 17 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
0 Not at all 727 727
1 Several days 442 1169
2 More than half the days 119 1288
3 Nearly every day 91 1379
7 Refused 0 1379
9 Don't know 0 1379
. Missing 65 1444

DPQ050 - Poor appetite or overeating

Variable Name:
DPQ050
SAS Label:
Poor appetite or overeating
English Text:
[Over the last 2 weeks, how often have you been bothered by the following problems:] poor appetite or overeating?
English Instructions:
HAND CARD DPQ1
Target:
Both males and females 12 YEARS - 17 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
0 Not at all 1101 1101
1 Several days 197 1298
2 More than half the days 46 1344
3 Nearly every day 34 1378
7 Refused 0 1378
9 Don't know 1 1379
. Missing 65 1444

DPQ060 - Feeling bad about yourself

Variable Name:
DPQ060
SAS Label:
Feeling bad about yourself
English Text:
[Over the last 2 weeks, how often have you been bothered by the following problems:] feeling bad about yourself - or that you are a failure or have let yourself or your family down?
English Instructions:
HAND CARD DPQ1
Target:
Both males and females 12 YEARS - 17 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
0 Not at all 1130 1130
1 Several days 169 1299
2 More than half the days 42 1341
3 Nearly every day 37 1378
7 Refused 1 1379
9 Don't know 0 1379
. Missing 65 1444

DPQ070 - Trouble concentrating on things

Variable Name:
DPQ070
SAS Label:
Trouble concentrating on things
English Text:
[Over the last 2 weeks, how often have you been bothered by the following problems:] trouble concentrating on things, such as reading the newspaper or watching TV?
English Instructions:
HAND CARD DPQ1
Target:
Both males and females 12 YEARS - 17 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
0 Not at all 1088 1088
1 Several days 186 1274
2 More than half the days 63 1337
3 Nearly every day 42 1379
7 Refused 0 1379
9 Don't know 0 1379
. Missing 65 1444

DPQ080 - Moving or speaking slowly or too fast

Variable Name:
DPQ080
SAS Label:
Moving or speaking slowly or too fast
English Text:
[Over the last 2 weeks, how often have you been bothered by the following problems:] moving or speaking so slowly that other people could have noticed? Or the opposite - being so fidgety or restless that you have been moving around a lot more than usual?
English Instructions:
HAND CARD DPQ1
Target:
Both males and females 12 YEARS - 17 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
0 Not at all 1173 1173
1 Several days 141 1314
2 More than half the days 37 1351
3 Nearly every day 28 1379
7 Refused 0 1379
9 Don't know 0 1379
. Missing 65 1444

DPQ090 - Thoughts you would be better off dead

Variable Name:
DPQ090
SAS Label:
Thoughts you would be better off dead
English Text:
[Over the last 2 weeks, how often have you been bothered by the following problems:] Thoughts that you would be better off dead or of hurting yourself in some way?
English Instructions:
HAND CARD DPQ1
Target:
Both males and females 12 YEARS - 17 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
0 Not at all 1301 1301
1 Several days 59 1360
2 More than half the days 13 1373
3 Nearly every day 5 1378
7 Refused 1 1379
9 Don't know 0 1379
. Missing 65 1444

DPQ100 - Difficulty these problems have caused

Variable Name:
DPQ100
SAS Label:
Difficulty these problems have caused
English Text:
How difficult have these problems made it for you to do your work, take care of things at home, or get along with people?
Target:
Both males and females 12 YEARS - 17 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
0 Not at all difficult 649 649
1 Somewhat difficult 266 915
2 Very difficult 28 943
3 Extremely difficult 8 951
7 Refused 0 951
9 Don't know 1 952
. Missing 492 1444