National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

2017-March 2020 Data Documentation, Codebook, and Frequencies

Mental Health - Depression Screener (P_DPQ)

Data File: P_DPQ.xpt

First Published: June 2021

Last Revised: NA

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 18 and older are included in this data file. Participants requiring a proxy were not eligible because of the sensitive nature of the questions. Data for youth aged 12-17 years are available through the NCHS Research Data Center.

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

Kroenke K, Spitzer RL, William JB. The PHQ-9: validity of a brief depression severity measure. J Gen Intern Med 2001; 16: 1606-13.
Kroenke K, Spitzer RL. The PHQ-9: a new depression and diagnostic severity measure. Psych Annals 2002; 32:509-21.
Spitzer RL, Kroenke K, Williams JB. Validation and utility of a self-report version of Prime MD: the PHQ primary care study. JAMA 1999; 282: 1737-44.

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 18 YEARS - 150 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 18 YEARS - 150 YEARS

Code or Value	Value Description	Count	Cumulative
0	Not at all	6166	6166
1	Several days	1372	7538
2	More than half the days	450	7988
3	Nearly every day	310	8298
7	Refused	4	8302
9	Don't know	6	8308
.	Missing	657	8965

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 18 YEARS - 150 YEARS

Code or Value	Value Description	Count	Cumulative
0	Not at all	6187	6187
1	Several days	1456	7643
2	More than half the days	387	8030
3	Nearly every day	269	8299
7	Refused	2	8301
9	Don't know	5	8306
.	Missing	659	8965

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 18 YEARS - 150 YEARS

Code or Value	Value Description	Count	Cumulative
0	Not at all	5023	5023
1	Several days	1890	6913
2	More than half the days	621	7534
3	Nearly every day	764	8298
7	Refused	3	8301
9	Don't know	5	8306
.	Missing	659	8965

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 18 YEARS - 150 YEARS

Code or Value	Value Description	Count	Cumulative
0	Not at all	4164	4164
1	Several days	2682	6846
2	More than half the days	754	7600
3	Nearly every day	697	8297
7	Refused	4	8301
9	Don't know	4	8305
.	Missing	660	8965

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 18 YEARS - 150 YEARS

Code or Value	Value Description	Count	Cumulative
0	Not at all	6165	6165
1	Several days	1293	7458
2	More than half the days	464	7922
3	Nearly every day	377	8299
7	Refused	2	8301
9	Don't know	4	8305
.	Missing	660	8965

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 18 YEARS - 150 YEARS

Code or Value	Value Description	Count	Cumulative
0	Not at all	6881	6881
1	Several days	968	7849
2	More than half the days	239	8088
3	Nearly every day	207	8295
7	Refused	3	8298
9	Don't know	6	8304
.	Missing	661	8965

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 18 YEARS - 150 YEARS

Code or Value	Value Description	Count	Cumulative
0	Not at all	6862	6862
1	Several days	892	7754
2	More than half the days	254	8008
3	Nearly every day	291	8299
7	Refused	2	8301
9	Don't know	3	8304
.	Missing	661	8965

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 18 YEARS - 150 YEARS

Code or Value	Value Description	Count	Cumulative
0	Not at all	7422	7422
1	Several days	531	7953
2	More than half the days	196	8149
3	Nearly every day	148	8297
7	Refused	2	8299
9	Don't know	5	8304
.	Missing	661	8965

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 18 YEARS - 150 YEARS

Code or Value	Value Description	Count	Cumulative
0	Not at all	7976	7976
1	Several days	233	8209
2	More than half the days	51	8260
3	Nearly every day	36	8296
7	Refused	2	8298
9	Don't know	4	8302
.	Missing	663	8965

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 18 YEARS - 150 YEARS

Code or Value	Value Description	Count	Cumulative
0	Not at all difficult	4074	4074
1	Somewhat difficult	1181	5255
2	Very difficult	209	5464
3	Extremely difficult	71	5535
7	Refused	1	5536
9	Don't know	4	5540
.	Missing	3425	8965

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