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National Health Interview Survey Linked Mortality File

Description of the data set

Data file description

List of variables at a glance

Data file technical characteristics

Data availability

Documentation contents

Related reports

Contacts

Description of the data set

Data File Description

NCHS has conducted a mortality linkage of the 1986 through 2000 National Health Interview Surveys (NHIS) with the National Death Index (NDI). The resulting NHIS linked mortality file is now available through the NCHS Research Data Center (RDC). Linkage of the NHIS survey participants with the NDI provides the opportunity to conduct outcome studies designed to investigate the association of a variety of health factors with mortality using the richness of the NHIS questionnaires, both core and supplements, as covariates. The current linkage of the 1986-2000 NHIS survey years with the NDI includes deaths for adult participants (18 and older) occurring from the date of interview through December 31, 2002. The 2004 NHIS–NDI linked mortality file supersedes all previous matches.

NHIS linked mortality file variables at a glance

Eligibility status

Final mortality status

Date of death

Age at death

Age when last presumed alive

NDI match results

NDI score

NDI class

NDI status

NDI class switch indicator

NDI date of death

NDI Total Possible Score

Probability of NDI match

Probability of NDI non-match

Underlying cause of death codes (ICD-9 and ICD

10)

Underlying cause of death recodes (ICD-9 and

ICD-10)

Multiple cause of death entity axis codes

Multiple cause of death record axis codes

Original sample weights

Adjusted sample weights

Date of birth

Date of interview

Submission type

List of data file variables available by special request

Date file technical characteristics

The NHIS linked mortality files are in ASCII file format. The following list provides the number of file records per survey.

NHIS 1986 62,052

NHIS 1987 122,859

NHIS 1988 122,310

NHIS 1989 116,929

NHIS 1990 119,631

NHIS 1991 120,032

NHIS 1992 128,412

NHIS 1993 109,671

NHIS 1994 116,179

NHIS 1995 102,467

NHIS 1996 63,402

NHIS 1997 103,477

NHIS 1998 98,785

NHIS 1999 97,059

NHIS 2000 100,618

Data Availability

NHIS linked mortality files are available for each NHIS survey year from 1986 through 2000.  Due to confidentiality requirements, the linked mortality files are now available through the NCHS Research Data Center (RDC). All researchers may apply to the RDC to use the NHIS linked mortality data.  A standard mortality file is available which contains information on eligibility status, NDI match data, date of death, age at death, and cause of death.  There are additional variables that can be made available by special request for approved research projects conducted through the RDC.

Documentation contents

File layout

Detailed Notes for Selected Variables

Underlying and Multiple Causes of Death

Matching Methodology Document

Tabular Data

Frequencies of Selected Variables

Sample Weight Distribution

Related Reports

Comparability of Cause of Death Between ICD-9 and ICD-10: Preliminary Estimates.
View/download PDF 338 KB

Contacts

Christine S. Cox
NCHS Special Assistant for Record Linkage
Special Projects Branch
Office of Analysis and Epidemiology
National Center for Health Statistics
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
3311 Toledo Road, Room 6435
Hyattsville, MD 20782
301-458-4164

datalinkage@cdc.gov

Donna M. Miller
Special Projects Branch
Office of Analysis and Epidemiology
National Center for Health Statistics
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
3311 Toledo Road, Room 6430
Hyattsville, MD 20782
301-458-4135

datalinkage@cdc.gov

This page last reviewed November 04, 2004