• Component Description
• Codebook
  • SEQN - Respondent sequence number
  • SAMPLEID - Pool identification number
  • WTSB2YRA - Adjusted subsample weight

National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

2015-2016 Data Documentation, Codebook, and Frequencies

Pooled-Sample Technical Support File (POOLTF_I)

Data File: POOLTF_I.xpt

First Published: August 2019

Last Revised: NA

Component Description

In NHANES 2005-2006, a weighted pooled-sample design was implemented to facilitate pooling samples before making analytical measurements for specific environmental chemicals. Pooling samples allowed for larger sample volumes, which resulted in lower limits of detection (LLODs) and reduced the number of measurements and costs. Laboratory components analyzed with the pooled-sample design in the NHANES 2015-2016 cycle included:

• Brominated Flame Retardants (BFRPOL_I);
• Non-dioxin-like Polychlorinated Biphenyls & Mono-ortho-substituted Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBPOL_I);
• Serum Pesticides - Organochlorine Pesticides (PSTPOL_I); and
• Polychlorinated Dibenzo-p-dioxins, Dibenzofurans & Coplanar Polychlorinated Biphenyls (DOXPOL_I)

The analytic pools were prepared from serum collected from a random one-third subsample of the NHANES 2015-2016 participants aged 12 years and older. Samples were pooled based on gender, race and Hispanic origin, and age. This Pooled-Sample Technical Support file (POOLTF_I) contains information on individual participants included in each pool. Three variables are included in the technical support file:

SEQN - Respondent sequence number, the unique survey participant identifier that can be used to link to the other NHANES data files;

SAMPLEID - Pool identification number, indicating which pool the participant was designated to; this is the key variable corresponding to the pooled-sample laboratory component datasets; and

WTSB2YRA - The adjusted subsample weight for the individual survey participant.

If a survey participant was selected as part of the one-third subsample, but did not provide a serum specimen or a specimen with sufficient volume for the analyses, he/she would not be assigned to a pool. The survey participant will be coded with “SAMPLEID=.” and “WTSB2YRA=0”.  In NHANES 2015-2016, there were 2318 individuals selected into the one-third subsample, and among them, 2,179 provided sufficient volume of analytic specimen, resulting in 2,157 useable specimens for creating 284 pools with 2-8 samples per pool.

Please refer to the documentations accompanying each laboratory component using the pooled-sample design for more details on rationale and methods used to create pooled results.

Codebook and Frequencies