The Evolution of NHANES Content and Data Collection Methods

• Activity Number: 166
• Type: Topic Contributed
• Date/Time: Monday, August 2, 2010 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Government Statistics
• Author(s): Vicki L. Burt*+ and Clifford Leroy Johnson
• Companies: CDC/NCHS and National Center for Health Statistics
• Keywords: NHANES ; survey research ; health statistics

Abstract

In 1956 the National Health Survey Act authorized surveys and special studies of the population to determine the extent of illness, disability, and related information in the U.S. The National Health Examination Survey began in 1959 in response to this legislation. Changes in survey focus, such as the addition of nutrition, along with technological advances, have led to an evolution of the content and data collection methods over the last 50 years. This presentation traces the changes in data content and subsequent changes in how the data has been collected. Areas addressed include automated interviewing for sensitive topics, telephone versus personal interviewing for nutrition data, changes in laboratory measures and technology and special applications such as digital images and X-rays, personal monitoring, environmental sampling, and biomonitoring via unique specimen collection.