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.
In 2015, diabetes was the seventh leading cause of death in the United States. More than 30 million Americans are living with diabetes, and 86 million are living with prediabetes, which is a serious health condition that increases a person’s risk of type 2 diabetes and other chronic diseases. The prevalence of diabetes and overweight (one of the major risk factors for diabetes) continues to increase. Substantial new efforts to prevent or control diabetes have begun, including the Diabetes Prevention Trial and the National Diabetes Education Program.
Diabetes testing provides population data to: 1) determine a national estimate of diabetes prevalence (diagnosed and undiagnosed); 2) identify the risk factors; 3) permit a national cohort to be established for follow-up studies of this condition; and 4) provide critical information to clinicians and public health officials for the development of preventive care and community-based interventions.
All examined participants 12 years and older in the NHANES 2017-March 2020 pre-pandemic sample were eligible.
In this assay, the stable (SA1c) and labile (LA1c) A1c forms can be individually resolved on the chromatogram without manual pretreatment, allowing accurate measurement of the stable form of HbA1c. The analyzer dilutes the whole blood specimen with a hemolysis solution, and then injects a small volume of the treated specimen onto the HPLC analytical column. Separation is achieved by utilizing differences in ionic interactions between the cation exchange group on the column resin surface and the hemoglobin components. The hemoglobin fractions (A1c, A1b, F, LA1c, SA1c, A0 and H-Var) are subsequently removed from the column material by step-wise elution using elution buffers each with a different salt concentration. The separated hemoglobin components pass through the photometer flow cell where the analyzer measures changes in absorbance at 415 nm. The analyzer integrates and reduces the raw data, and then calculates the relative percentages of each hemoglobin fraction. Analysis requires three minutes. If a specimen showed a deterioration peak, hemoglobin variant, or a LA1c results ≥ 5% and/or LA1c results > half SA1c during the regular test, it would be retested by a second method, ultra 2 HPLC. In the 2017March 2020 pre-pandemic sample, only 3.9% of the blood specimens required to be retested by the ultra 2 HPLC method. A lab instrumentation change was made for this secondary method during the data collection period. This instrument change did not significantly affect the resulted glycohemoglobin values; the mean relative error between results from the two instruments was 0.5% (ranged from -4.0% to 5.2%).
Refer to the Laboratory Method Files section for a detailed description of the laboratory methods used.
Glycohemoglobin_Premier (February 2020)
Glycohemoglobin_G8 (February 2020)
Glycohemoglobin_Premier (April 2021)
Glycohemoglobin_G8 (April 2021)
Whole blood specimens were processed, stored, and shipped to the University of Missouri-Columbia, MO for analysis.
Detailed instructions on specimen collection and processing are discussed in the NHANES 2017-2018 and 2019-2020 Laboratory Procedures Manuals (LPM). Vials are stored under appropriate refrigerated (2-8°C) conditions until they were shipped to University of Missouri for testing.
The NHANES quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) protocols meet the 1988 Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act mandates. Detailed QA/QC instructions are discussed in the NHANES LPM.
Mobile Examination Centers (MECs)
Laboratory team performance is
monitored using several techniques. NCHS and contract consultants use a
structured competency assessment evaluation during visits to evaluate both the
quality of the laboratory work and the QC procedures. Each laboratory
staff member is observed for equipment operation, specimen collection and
preparation; testing procedures and constructive feedback are given to each
staff member. Formal retraining sessions are conducted annually to ensure that
required skill levels were maintained.
Analytical Laboratories
NHANES uses several methods to monitor the
quality of the analyses performed by the contract laboratories. In the MEC,
these methods include performing blind split samples collected on “dry run”
sessions. In addition, contract laboratories randomly perform repeat testing on
2% of all specimens.
NCHS developed and distributed a QC protocol for all CDC and contract laboratories, which outlined the use of Westgard rules (Westgard et al., 1981) when testing NHANES specimens. Progress reports containing any problems encountered during shipping or receipt of specimens, summary statistics for each control pool, QC graphs, instrument calibration, reagents, and any special considerations are submitted to NCHS quarterly. The reports are reviewed for trends or shifts in the data. The laboratories are required to explain any identified areas of concern.
The data were reviewed. Incomplete data or improbable values were sent to the performing laboratory for confirmation.
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. Data collection was cancelled for the remaining 12 locations. 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 resulting 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.
Refer to the 2017-2018 and 2019-2020 Laboratory Data Overview documents for general information on NHANES laboratory data.
There are over 800 laboratory tests performed on NHANES participants. However, not all participants provided biospecimens or enough volume for all the tests to be performed. The specimen availability can also vary by age or other population characteristics. For example, in 2017-March 2020, approximately 76% of children aged 1-17 years who were examined in the MEC provided a blood specimen through phlebotomy, while 95% of examined adults age 18 and older provided a blood specimen. Analysts should evaluate the extent of missing data in the dataset related to the outcome of interest as well as any predictor variables used in the analyses to determine whether additional re-weighting for item non-response is necessary.
Please refer to the NHANES Analytic Guidelines and the on-line NHANES Tutorial for further details on the use of sample weights and analytic issues.
Demographic and Other Related Variables
The analysis of NHANES laboratory data must be conducted using the appropriate survey design and demographic variables. The NHANES 2017-March 2020 Pre-Pandemic Demographics File contains demographic data, health indicators, and other related information collected during household interviews as well as the sample design variables. The recommended procedure for variance estimation requires use of stratum and PSU variables (SDMVSTRA and SDMVPSU, respectively) in the demographic data file.
The Fasting Questionnaire File includes auxiliary information, such as fasting status, length of fast and the time of venipuncture.
This laboratory data file can be linked to the other NHANES data files using the unique survey participant identifier (i.e., SEQN).
Detection Limits
Since this data is reported in percent, the use of lower LLODs isn’t
applicable.
| Code or Value | Value Description | Count | Cumulative | Skip to Item |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.8 to 16.2 | Range of Values | 9737 | 9737 | |
| . | Missing | 672 | 10409 |