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.

The pesticide use questionnaire (variable name prefix PUQ) provides data on pesticide use during the past seven days in the home, and on the lawn or in the garden.

Pesticides are substances or a mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling, or mitigating any pest (EPA, 2020). Many common household products that are used inside and outside of the home are considered pesticides, thus increasing the risk of exposure to these substances. The PUQ seeks to obtain meaningful data about potential exposure to chemicals in and around the household among NHANES participants.

Eligible Sample

All participants aged 6 years and older, in the NHANES 2017-March 2020 pre-pandemic sample, were eligible.

Interview Setting and Mode of Administration

The PUQ was asked in the mobile examination center (MEC) by phlebotomists or trained interviewers using the Computer-Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) system.

Persons 18 years of age and older were interviewed directly. A proxy provided information for participants 6-17.

Quality Assurance & Quality Control

PUQ data were systematically reviewed for consistency, data processing, and data input errors on a periodic basis during the data collection.

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 reviewed by NCHS data analysts for accuracy and completeness.

Data Processing and Editing

Data were edited for completeness and consistency.

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. 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 present 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.

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 6 YEARS - 150 YEARS

PUQ100 - Products used in home to control insects

Variable Name:
PUQ100
SAS Label:
Products used in home to control insects
English Text:
In the past 7 days, were any chemical products used in {your/his/her} home to control fleas, roaches, ants, termites, or other insects?
English Instructions:
CAPI INSTRUCTION: IF SP 6-17 YEARS, DISPLAY THE FOLLOWING INTERVIEWER INSTRUCTION: "THIS ITEM IS COLLECTED VIA PROXY FOR SPS 6-17. LOOK UP THE PROXY RESPONSE IN THE PUQ REPORT AND ENTER IT IN PUQ100"
Target:
Both males and females 6 YEARS - 150 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
1 Yes 1052 1052
2 No 10851 11903
7 Refused 1 11904
9 Don't know 53 11957
. Missing 241 12198

PUQ110 - Products used to kill weeds?

Variable Name:
PUQ110
SAS Label:
Products used to kill weeds?
English Text:
In the past 7 days, were any chemical products used in {your/his/her} lawn or garden to kill weeds?
English Instructions:
CODE "NO" IF THE RESPONDENT SAYS S/HE DOES NOT HAVE A LAWN OR GARDEN. CAPI INSTRUCTION: IF SP 6-17 YEARS, DISPLAY THE FOLLOWING INTERVIEWER INSTRUCTION: "THIS ITEM IS COLLECTED VIA PROXY FOR SPS 6-17. LOOK UP THE PROXY RESPONSE IN THE PUQ REPORT AND ENTER IT IN PUQ110."
Target:
Both males and females 6 YEARS - 150 YEARS
Code or Value Value Description Count Cumulative Skip to Item
1 Yes 574 574
2 No 11209 11783
7 Refused 9 11792
9 Don't know 164 11956
. Missing 242 12198