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Finding Data: Data on Health

ACCESS TO THESE DATA FILES ARE RESTRICTED TO CURRENTLY ENROLLED/EMPLOYED MEMBERS OF PRINCETON UNIVERSITY.

• Selected Resources for:
  Health - Non USA :: Mental health :: Substance Abuse ::
  
  
• Adolescent Health and Academic Achievement (AHAA) Study
  Provides an opportunity to examine the effects of education on adolescent behavior, academic achievement, and cognitive and psychosocial development in the 1990s. Expands the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). While Add Health is a rich source of data on social contexts and adolescent development, it has limited information on the academic trajectories of youth. Thus, the AHAA study contributes to Add Health by providing the high school transcripts of Add Health Wave III sample members. The AHAA data provides indicators of (1) educational achievement, (2) course taking patterns, (3) curricular exposure, and (4) educational contexts within and between schools, all of which can be linked to the Add Health survey data. Access is restricted and through Sociometrics. To access
• Click on Data Archives.
• Click on Data Archive on Adolescent Pregnancy and Pregnancy Prevention.
• Go to The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, Wave III, 2001-2002 (Add Health).
• Click on Download Instructions.
• Submit the request form.
• You will then have to wait to get permission to use.

• AIDS Public Data Set
  Contains counts of AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) cases reported to CDC by state and local health departments from 1981+. Case counts can be retrieved by demographics, case-definition, date of diagnosis, date of report, HIV exposure group (risk factors), and mortality.

• AIDS/STD Data Archive at Sociometrics
  Consists of original research data and instruments from 11 premier studies on AIDS/HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Also available are 8 studies from the Archive of Behavioral and Social Research on HIV/AIDS, which provide descriptive and comparative data on the behavioral and social antecedents and consequences of HIV, AIDS, and sexually transmitted diseases. Part of Sociometrics.

• Annual Survey of Hospitals
  Survey of for-profit and not-for-profit hospitals on utilization and cost related matters is produced by the American Hospital Association. Documentation is available at (DSS)RA981.A2.A32. Data access: 1975-1995, 1996-2006 is available on CD under DSS Study # 457. Ask at the SSRC Desk.

• Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (1984+) (BRFSS)
  Tracks health risks in the United States. Monitors state-level prevalence of the major behavioral risks among adults associated with premature morbidity and mortality. Collects data on actual behaviors, rather than on attitudes or knowledge, that would be especially useful for planning, initiating, supporting, and evaluating health promotion and disease prevention programs.

• Bureau of Health Professions Area Resource File (1940-1990, 1998-2000, 2005)
  County-based data file summarizing secondary data from a wide variety of sources that are useful to health analysts investigating the nation's health care delivery system. See the Main Catalog for study numbers and access.

• California Consumers Experiences with Managed Care
  Survey of insured Californian's experiences with managed health care done for California's Managed Health Care Improvement Task Force.

• California Work and Health Survey (1998-2000) (CWHS)
  Telephone based, longitudinal survey of California adults designed by faculty and staff of the Work and Health Program at the University of California, San Francisco. Includes extensive coverage of employment status, recent job loss, working conditions and environment, and of physical and mental health status.

• Community Tracking Study (CTS) (1997-2003); Health Tracking Household Survey (HTHS) (2007+)
  Large-scale longitudinal investigation of health system change and its effects on people. The 2007 HTHS is the successor to the CTS Household Surveys which were conducted in 1996-1997, 1998-1999, 2000-2001, and 2003. Although the HTHS questionnaires are similar to the CTS Household Survey questionnaires, the HTHS sampling design does not have the community focus intrinsic to CTS. Whereas the CTS design focused on 60 nationally representative communities with sample sizes large enough to draw conclusions about health system change in 12 communities, the HTHS design is a national sample not aimed at measuring change within communities. Hence, Community was dropped from the study title. Like the CTS Household Surveys, HTHS collected information on health insurance coverage, use of health services, health expenses, satisfaction with health care and physician choice, unmet health care needs, usual source of care and patient trust, health status, adult chronic conditions, height and weight, and smoking behavior. In addition, the survey inquired about perceptions of care delivery and quality, problems with paying medical bills, use of in-store retail and onsite workplace health clinics, patient engagement with health care, sources of health information, and shopping for health care. Domestic partners are included in the same (family insurance unit) FIU since many health insurance policies now cover them. Previously in the CTS Household Surveys, domestic partners (same-sex partners and other unmarried partners) formed separate FIUs.

• Complementary and Alternative Medicine Data Archive (CAMDA)
  Part of Sociometrics. The datasets included are based on state-of-the-art research studies conducted in the U.S. and in foreign countries. Includes data from nationally representative surveys as well as from clinical trials.

• Data Archive of Social Research on Aging (DASRA)
  Contains 5 large national surveys: Longitudinal Study of Aging, 1984-1990; Longitudinal Retirement History Study, 1969-1979; National Long-Term Care Survey: 1982, 1984, 1989; Hispanic Established Populations for the Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly (Hispanic EPESE), Waves I-IV, 1993-2001; and National Survey of Self-Care and Aging (NSSCA), 1990-1994 . Part of Sociometrics.

• Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study
  Follows a cohort of nearly 5,000 children born in large U.S. cities between 1998 and 2000 (roughly 3/4 of whom were born to unmarried parents). Refers to unmarried parents and their children as fragile families to underscore that they are families and that they are at greater risk of breaking up and living in poverty than more traditional families. Designed to primarily address 4 questions: (1) What are the conditions and capabilities of unmarried parents, especially fathers?; (2) What is the nature of the relationships between unmarried parents?; (3) How do children born into these families fare?; and (4) How do policies and environmental conditions affect families and children?

  Citation:
  Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (Electronic File)
  Principal investigator: Sara McLanahan & Christina Paxson (Princeton University) and Irwin Garfinkel, Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, Ron Mincy, & Jane Waldfogel (Columbia University)
  

• Health and Retirement Study. 1992+
  Paints an emerging portrait of an aging America's physical and mental health, insurance coverage, financial status, family support systems, labor market status, and retirement planning. Registration is required.

  Sample Size: Over 22,000 Americans over the age of 50 every 2 years.

• Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) Series (1995-1998, 2001-2002)
  

• Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) Series
  Collects nationally representative data about the American public's access to and use of cancer-related information. Highlights changing patterns, needs, and behavior in seeking and supplying cancer information and identify trends and practices in health communication in general.

• Health New Zealand Database on Tobacco Consumption and its determinants in 23 OECD Countries, 1960-2000
  Provides information on consumption and warning labels for cigarettes and tobacco.

• Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP)
  Largest collection of longitudinal hospital care data in the United States, with all-payer, discharge-level information beginning in 1988. Micro-level HCUP data is also available from DSS. Speak to a librarian or consultant as a confidentiality agreement must be signed before this data can be made available.

• Hispanic Established Populations for the Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly (1993-2005)
  Collected data on a representative sample of community-dwelling Mexican-American elderly, aged 65 years & older, residing in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas. Provides estimates of the prevalence of key physical health conditions, mental health conditions, and functional impairments in older Mexican Americans and to compare these estimates with those for other populations. Attempted to determine whether certain risk factors for mortality and morbidity operate differently in Mexican Americans than in non-Hispanic White Americans, African Americans, and other major ethnic groups. Covers demographic characteristics (age, sex, type of Hispanic race, income, education, marital status, number of children, employment, and religion), height, weight, social and physical functioning, chronic conditions, related health problems, health habits, self-reported use of dental, hospital, and nursing home services, and depression. Follow-up studies examined quality of life, changes in health, medication. Wave V includes additional samples.

• HIV Costs and Services Utilization Study (HCSUS) (1996-1997)
  First major research effort to collect information on a nationally representative sample of people in care for HIV infection. Provided information on the health care services persons with HIV disease received and on the costs of those services. Consists of 3 files: (1) Baseline 1996, (2) 1st Follow Up (1st 1/2 of 1997) and (3) 2nd Follow Up (2nd 1/2 of 1998)

• Home Health Agencies and Hospice Facility Annual Utilization Data (California) (2001+)
  Home Health Agencies (HHA) provide at home skilled nursing, personal care and therapeutic services. Hospices provide palliative care and alleviate the physical, emotional, social and spiritual discomforts of an individual who is experiencing the last phases of life due to the existence of a terminal disease. In addition, hospices provide supportive care for the primary care giver and the family of the hospice patient. Contains information on visits, services provided, and gross revenues.

• Hospital Annual Utilization Data (California) (2001+)
  Contains basic licensing information including bed classifications; patient demographics including occupancy rates, the number of discharges and patient days by bed classification, and the number of live births; as well as information on the type of services provided including the number of surgical operating rooms, number of surgeries performed (both inpatient and outpatient), the number of cardiovascular procedures performed, and licensed emergency medical services provided.

• Hurricane Katrina Community Advisory Group Study
  Aims to inform policy-makers of the impact of Hurricane Katrina on survivors' physical and mental health and barriers to treatment, as well as assist in future natural disaster planning efforts. This will be achieved by monitoring, over time, a group of people who represent those affected by Katrina. The Hurricane Katrina Community Advisory Group consists of a broad cross-section of people affected by Katrina, including separate samples of people who resided in the New Orleans metropolitan area at the time of the hurricane and those who resided in the counties or parishes of Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi that were in the path of the hurricane. Follow-up interviews conducted with the Advisory Group members to monitor the pace of recovery, as well as reports prepared for policy-makers, press releases, and digitally recorded oral histories are being posted on the Hurricane Katrina Community Advisory Group Web site as they become available. Demographic variables include gender, age, race, ethnicity, pre-hurricane residence (place), pre-hurricane type of housing (detached home, mobile home, apartment, etc.), pre-hurricane employment, family income, marital status, education, home ownership (owned with mortgage, owned without mortgage, rented, etc.), where the respondent lived at time of interview, religious preference, and religiosity.

• ICPSR Health and Medical Care Archive (HMCA)
  Preserves and disseminates health care data collected by researchers. Subjects covered include Health Care Providers, Cost/Access to Health Care, Substance Abuse and Health, Chronic Health Conditions, and Other.

• ICPSR health datasets
  A very long list of assorted major and minor health datasets held at ICPSR.

• Integrated Health Interview Series (IHIS)
  Harmonized set of data and documentation based on material originally included in the public use files of the U.S. National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). Currently consists of approximately 300 integrated variables selected from more than 2000 variables included in the core survey household and person files for 1969-2005, the sample adult/sample child files for 1997-2005, and the Access to Care supplements for 1993-96. Additional data will be released bi-annually.

• Joint Canada-US Survey of Health (JCUSH)
  Research study conducted by Statistics Canada and the National Center for Health Statistics, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Data collection began in November 2002 and ended in March 2003. The JCUSH was a one-time, random telephone survey in both countries. Designed to produce a set of highly comparable health data on Canadian and U.S. populations that will enable researchers to better understand how the differing health care systems affect health care, health status and functional status.

  Sample Size: Approximately 3,500 Canadian and 5,200 U.S. residents

  Citation:
  Joint Canada-US Survey of Health (JCUSH) (Electronic File)
  Principal investigator: Statistics Canada and the National Center for Health Statistics
  Producer: Statistics Canada and the National Center for Health Statistics
  Distributor: Statistics Canada
  

• Kaiser Family Foundation Polls
  Questions and responses to health and healthcare surveys conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation back to 1994.

• Longitudinal Studies of Aging
  Multicohort study of persons 70 years of age and over designed primarily to measure changes in the health, functional status, living arrangements, and health services utilization of two cohorts of Americans as they move into and through the oldest ages.

• Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS)
  Third (and most recent) in a series of national probability surveys conducted by AHRQ on the financing and utilization of medical care in the United States.

• Medicare current beneficiary survey : cost and use, 1994-2003
  Link Medicare claims to survey-reported events and provides complete expenditure and source of payment data on all health care services, including those not covered by Medicare. Expenditure data were developed through a reconciliation process that combines information from survey respondents and Medicare administrative files. Files are highly restricted. To apply for use, go to http://www.cms.hhs.gov/apps/mcbs/FileAval.asp.

• Medicare Health Outcomes Survey (HOS), 1998-2007
  First patient reported outcomes measure used in Medicare managed care. Continuous study that measures the physical and mental health of Medicare beneficiaries over a 2-year period. Starting in 1998, a baseline survey was administered to a new cohort of respondents each year in the spring and a follow-up survey was conducted of those same respondents 2 years later. Cohorts 1-5 include the Baseline Data, the Follow-Up Data, and the Analytic Data file, which contains the merged Baseline and Follow-Up files along with supplemental variables. Beginning with Cohort 6, the Follow-Up Data were included only in the Analytic file. Consists of the SF-36 Health Survey, which yields physical and mental health summary measures, as well as questions on topics such as chronic medical conditions, activities of daily living, depression, smoking, physical health symptoms, weight and height, and additional questions such as Urinary Incontinence in Older Adults, Osteoporosis Testing in Older Women, and Fall Risk Management. Also includes case mix adjustment variables which may be used to adjust the survey response data for beneficiary characteristics that are known to be related to systematic biases in the way people respond to survey questions. Demographic information includes respondent's age, sex, race, education level, marital status, and geographic region.

• Mexican Origin People in the United States: the 1979 Chicano Survey
  Household survey of persons of Mexican descent living in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, and Chicago, Illinois. The purpose was to compile a statistically representative and comprehensive body of empirical information about the social, economic, and psychological status of Chicanos. Major topics covered were mental and physical health and use of health services, family background and composition, customary practices and values, language use and attitudes, employment history, social identity, group consciousness, and political opinions and participation.

  Sample Size: Of over 11,000 people screened, 1,400 met the Mexican ancestry criterion. Of this total, 991 interviews were collected.

• Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) (1995-1998, 2004-2006)
  Established in 1989 to study a little known period in the lifespan -- middle age. Midlife, the years between 30 and 70, is perhaps the least studied and most ill-defined of any period of life. It abounds with changing images and myths, such as the "midlife crisis," the "change of life," the "empty nest syndrome," and many more. However, there has been little documentation about what really happens, biologically and psychologically, during this extended period of time. The primary objective is to identify the major biomedical, psychological, and social factors that permit some people to achieve good health, psychological well-being, and social responsiblity during their adult years. To do this, MIDMAC collected a series of data to establish an empirical basis for documenting what really happens in the middle years and to identify the factors that determine the course of midlife development. The first wave of data collection (MIDUS I) began in 1995 with a National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States. The main data collection consisted of a general population survey, as well as surveys of siblings of the general population respondents, and a twin pairs sample. The main data collection also included an oversample of five metropolitan areas. In addition to the main national survey, random subsamples of respondents were recruited to participate in in-depth investigations of selected topics, such as management strategies for coping with stressful experiences, a national study of daily experiences, and a study of psychological experiences. The MIDUS II project was designed to collect a second wave of data on the same respondents approximately 10 years later.

• Model-based Small Area Health Insurance Estimates (SAHIE) for Counties and States (2000+)
  Estimates of health insurance coverage for states and all counties.

• Monitoring the Future. 1976+
  Ongoing study of the behaviors, attitudes, and values of American secondary school students, college students, and young adults. Each year, a total of some 50,000 8th, 10th and 12th grade students are surveyed. A number of questions on drug use are asked.

  Sample Size: 8th grade - approx. 18,000; 10th grade - approx. 17,000; 12th grade - approx. 16,000.

• National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey series (NAMCS) 1973-1981, 1985, 1989+
  Contains data on medical care provided in physicians' offices. It is a continuously sampled survey based on a nationwide sample of patient records.

• National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS)
  The principle US Governmental health statistics agency, NCHS collects data from birth and death records, medical records, interview surveys, and through direct physical exams and laboratory testing. Some useful NCHS datasets include:
  
  • National Health Interview Survey (Documentation available at (DSS)RA407.3.N38.)
  • National Vital Statistics System
  • Ambulatory Health Care Data (Documentation for the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey is available at (DSS)RA407.3.N37.)
  • National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
    
  • National Home and Hospice Care Survey
  • National Immunization Survey
  • State and Local Area Integrated Telephone Survey
  • National Employer Health Insurance Survey (1994)

• National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) (1993+)
  Data on nonfatal firearm-related injuries. Commonly called the "CDC Firearm Injury Surveillance Study". Provides the basis for national estimates of nonfatal firearm-related injuries and nonfatal BB/pellet gun-related injuries treated in hospital emergency departments in the United States. Beginning in July 2000, NCIPC, in collaboration with CPSC, expanded NEISS to collect data on all types and causes of injuries treated in a representative sample of hospitals. This system is called the "NEISS All Injury Program (NEISS AIP)". These data provide the basis for national estimates of all types of nonfatal injuries treated in hospital emergency departments in the United States.

• National Evaluation of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Urban Health Initiative (UHI): Survey of Adults and Youth (SAY), Waves 1-3, 1998-2005
  This repeated cross-sectional national telephone survey of households was conducted as part of the evaluation of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Urban Health Initiative (UHI), a long-term effort to improve the health, safety, and well-being of children and youth in five economically distressed cities in the United States: Baltimore, MD, Detroit, MI, Oakland, CA, Philadelphia, PA, and Richmond, VA. The UHI Survey of Adults and Youth (SAY) included a variety of questions, asked of both parents and their 10-18 year old children, regarding children's health, safety, perceptions of neighborhoods and schools, family relations, quality of city services, and other issues. SAY surveyed 3 types of households -- households without children, households with children aged 0-9 years, and households with children aged 10-18 years -- in up to 14 geographic areas, including the 5 UHI program cities, 9 comparison cities demographically similar to the UHI cities, the suburban regions of these cities, the most populous 100 United States cities, and the rest of the country.

• National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and Followup Series (1971+)
  The National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES I, II, III, Hispanic HANES, and NHANES I Epidemiologic Followup Survey [NHEFS]) were designed to obtain information on the health and nutritional status of the United States population. The NHANES I and NHANES II datasets were formerly titled Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. This series succeeds the National Health Examination Survey, which was collected from 1959 to 1970. All of the NHANES datasets use complex, multistage, stratified, clustered samples of civilian noninstitutionalized populations. All of the files within each study are linkable to each other. NHANES I (1971-1975) interviewed persons aged 1-74 years. The sample was selected so that certain population groups thought to be at high risk of malnutrition (persons with low incomes, preschool children, women of childbearing age, and the elderly) were oversampled at preset rates. On completion of the survey, 23,808 of the interviewed sample were given a medical examination, and this information is also part of the NHANES I data collections. The NHANES I Epidemiologic Followup Study (NHEFS) is a longitudinal study designed to investigate the relationships between clinical, nutritional, and behavioral factors assessed in NHANES I and subsequent morbidity, mortality, and hospital utilization, as well as changes in risk factors, functional limitation, and institutionalization. The NHEFS cohort includes all persons aged 25-74 who completed a medical examination for NHANES I (N = 14,407). NHANES II (1976-1980), was designed to continue the measurement and monitoring of the nutritional status and health of the United States population. From the sample of 27,801 persons aged 6 months to 74 years, 25,286 people were interviewed and 20,322 were both interviewed and examined. Because children and persons classified as living at or below the poverty level were assumed to be at special risk of having nutritional problems, they were sampled at rates substantially higher than their proportions in the general population. NHANES III (1988-1994) contains information on a sample of 33,994 persons aged 2 months and older. A home examination was employed for the first time in order to obtain examination data for very young children and for the elderly. The Hispanic HANES (HHANES) was conducted to obtain sufficient numbers to produce estimates of the health and nutritional status of Hispanics in general, as well as specific data for Puerto Ricans, Mexican Americans, and Cuban Americans. The latest data can be found on the CDC website.

• National Health and Social Life Survey (1992)
  Extensive information on the sexual experiences and other social, demographic, attitudinal, and health-related characteristics of adults in the United States. Commonly called the NORC Sex Survey.

• National Health Interview Survey (1969+)
  Formerly titled the Health Interview Surveys. Obtains information about the amount and distribution of illness, its effects in terms of disability and chronic impairments, and the kinds of health services people receive. Provides a continuous sampling and interviewing of the civilian, noninstitutionalized population of the United States. Supplemental data provide information on topics such as AIDS knowledge and attitudes, child health care and immunization, dental care, substance abuse, hospitalization, preventive care, nursing care, prosthetic appliances, and self-care. Supplements on Aging (SOA) conducted in 1984 and 1994 and the 1984-1990 Longitudinal Study of Aging (LSOA) were designed to furnish information on the causes and correlates of changes in the health and functioning of older Americans. Another component is the National Health Interview Survey on Disability (NHIS-D). Begun in 1994, the NHIS-D was designed to collect data that can be used to understand disability and to develop public policy on disability. Starting in 1997, the NHIS was redesigned to include a basic module, a periodic module, and a topical module. The basic module corresponds to the NHIS core questionnaire and is made up of the family core, the sample adult core, and the sample child core questions. The periodic module provides more detailed information on topics resulting from the basic module. The topical modules correspond to the supplements of the 1982-1996 NHIS and focus on public health data needs as they arise.

• National Home and Hospice Care Survey (NHHCS) (1996+)
  Nationwide sample survey of home health and hospice care agencies, and their current and discharged patients. Specifically designed as an ongoing series to satisfy the diverse data needs of those who establish standards for, plan, provide, and assess long-term care services. Information is collected on agency characteristics, such as the number of patients served in the past 12 months, type of facility ownership, Medicare and Medicaid certification, number and type of staff personnel, and staff working hours. Information collected on current patients and discharged patients includes the service provided, provider type, residence, referral source, medical diagnosis, type of care, type of aids used, daily living activities, billing charges, and expected payment sources. Discharge diagnoses are also included for discharged patients. Demographic variables on sex, age, race, Hispanic origin, and marital status are included for both types of patients. ICPSR has data back to its origin in 1992 but does not have the most recent data.

• National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey Series
  Data on visits to hospital outpatient departments and emergency departments. Obtains data on demographics, triage, complaints, diagnosis, services, medications and immunizations provided, and waiting time. Segmented by patient's age, race, sex and geographic location of facility.)

• National Hospital Discharge Survey Series 1970-present
  In 1964, the National Center for Health Statistics initiated a continuous sample of hospital discharge records. In the surveys, which are made available in annual public use files, data are abstracted from medical records for a sample of patients discharged from a sample of nonfederal short-stay hospitals across the nation.

• National Immunization Survey (NIS) (1995+)
  Designed to assess progress on the Childhood Immunization Initiative (CII) established in 1992 and to track individual states' percentages of properly vaccinated children.

• National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, Waves I, II, and III, 1994-1996, 2000-2002 (Add Health)
  Collected data for the purpose of providing information on the general health and well-being of adolescents in the United States, including, with respect to such adolescents, information on: (1) the behaviors that promote health and the behaviors that are detrimental to health; and (2) the influence on health of factors particular to the communities in which adolescents reside. Documentation can also be found on the AddHealth site.
  
  Sociometrics has some additional restircted data. To access start in Sociometrics.
  Click on Data Archives.
  Click on Data Archive on Adolescent Pregnancy and Pregnancy Prevention.
  Go to The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, Waves I, II, and III (Add Health).
  Click on Download Instructions.
  Submit the request form.
  You will then have to wait to get permission to use.

• National Longitudinal Survey of Local Public Health Systems, 1998-2006
  

• National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 and 1997
  Designed to document the transition from school to work and into adulthood. Collects extensive information about youths' labor market behavior and educational experiences over time. Also included is a survey of the biological children of women in the NLSY79. Documentation is available at the NLS site. For comparisons of National Longitudinal Surveys, Survey of Income and Program Participation, and Panel Study of Income Dynamics, see the comparison chart.

  Sample Size: The 1979 survey began with over 12,000 participants, while the 1997 survey began with approx. 9,000.

  Citation:
  National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 and 1997 (Electronic File)
  Principal investigator: Ohio State University. Center for Human Resource Research.
  Producer: Ohio State University, Center for Human Resource Research and U.S. Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
  Distributor: Ohio State University. Center for Human Resource Research.
  

• National Medical Expenditure Survey (1977+)
  Information on health expenditures by or on behalf of families and individuals, the financing of these expenditures, and each person's use of services.

• National Mortality Followback Survey (1966-1968, 1986, 1993)
  Uses a sample of United States residents who die in a given year, supplementing information derived from the death certificate with information from the next of kin or another person familiar with the decedent's life history. This information, sometimes enhanced by administrative records, is collected in order to study the etiology of disease, demographic trends in mortality, and other health issues.

• National Nursing Home Survey (1973-1974, 1977, 1985, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2004)
  Continuing series of nationally representative sample surveys of United States nursing homes, their services, their staff, and their residents. This survey was preceded by a series of surveys from 1963 through 1969, called the Residents Places Surveys. For more information, see the NCHS website.

• National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses
  Conducted approximately every 4 years since 1977.

• National Survey of America's Families
  Provides a comprehensive look at the well-being of children and non-elderly adults, and reveals sometimes striking differences among the 13 states studied in depth. Provides quantitative measures of child, adult and family well-being in America, with an emphasis on persons in low-income families. Representative of the noninstitutionalized, civilian population of persons under age 65 in the nation as a whole and in 13 states: Alabama, California, Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin. Together, these states are home to more than half the nation's population and represent a broad range of state characteristics in terms of fiscal capacity, child well-being indicators, and approaches to government programs.

  Three rounds of the survey have been carried out. The first round of data collection was completed in 1997, the second in 1999, and the third in 2002.

  Sample Size: Over 40,000 families, yielding more than 100,000 observations, per round.

• National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) Series (1979+)
  Formerly titled National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. Strives to provide accurate data on the level and patterns of licit and illicit drug use, track trends in the use of alcohol and various types of drugs, assess the consequences of drug use and abuse, and identify groups with a high risk for drug abuse to assess and monitor the nature of drug and alcohol use and the consequences of abuse. Primarily measures drug and alcohol use incidence and prevalence among the general civilian population aged 12 and older in the United States. Questions include age at first use, as well as lifetime, annual, and past-month usage for the following drugs: alcohol, marijuana, cocaine (including crack), hallucinogens, heroin, inhalants, tobacco, pain relievers, tranquilizers, stimulants, and sedatives. Covers substance abuse treatment history and perceived need for treatment, and includes questions from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of Mental Disorders that allow diagnostic criteria to be applied. Respondents were also asked about personal and family income sources and amounts, health care access and coverage, illegal activities and arrest record, problems resulting from the use of drugs, perceptions of risks, and needle-sharing. Demographic data include gender, race, age, ethnicity, educational level, job status, income level, veteran status, household composition, and population density.

• New Beneficiary Data System (NBDS)
  Contains extensive information on the changing circumstances of aged and disabled beneficiaries. Based initially on a national cross-sectional survey of new beneficiaries in 1982, the original data base has been expanded with information from administrative records and a second round of interviews in 1991. Variables measured in the original New Beneficiary Survey (NBS) include demographic characteristics; employment, marital, and childbearing histories; household composition; health; income and assets; program knowledge; and information about the spouses of married respondents. The 1991 New Beneficiary Follow-up (NBF) updates marital status, household composition, and the economic profile and contains additional sections on family contacts, postretirement employment, effects of widowhood and divorce, major reasons for changes in economic status, a more extensive section on health, and information on household moves and reasons for moving. Disabled-worker beneficiaries were also asked about their efforts to return to work, experiences with rehabilitation services, and knowledge of SSA work incentive provisions. The NBDS contains unique measurements that make it valuable not only for studies about Social Security but also for studies of health, economic, labor, gerontological, and welfare issues. It contains objective measures from administrative files of yearly covered earnings from 1951 to 1992, Medicare expenditures from 1984 to 1999, whether an SSI application has ever been made and payment status at 5 points in time, and dates of death as of spring 2001. For studies of health, the Medicare expenditure variables include inpatient hospital costs, outpatient hospital costs, home health care costs, and physicians' charges. The survey data cover functional capacity including ADLs and IADLs. For studies of work in retirement, the survey includes yearly information on extent of work, characteristics of the current or last job, and reasons for working or not working. No other data set has such detailed baseline survey data of a population immediately after their retirement or disability enhanced with subsequent measures over an extended period of time.

• OECD Health Data
  Examines national health systems from 1960 forward for OECD member countries in a general, demographic, economic, and social context.

• Population Research Center at NORC and The University of Chicago
  Makes available data from some of the Population Research Center's projects. Interesting datasets include the National Health and Social Life Survey, the Chicago Health and Social Life Survey, and the Chinese Health and Family Life Survey. Profiles sexual behavior, demography and health.

• Primary Care and Specialty Clinics Annual Utilization Data (California) (2001+)
  The clinic annual utilization data includes 2 types of clinics: primary care clinics and specialty clinics. Primary care clinics, which include community and free clinics, offer a full range of primary care services to the uninsured and underinsured in their communities. Specialty clinics include freestanding surgical, chronic dialysis, and rehabilitation clinics as well as alternative birth centers. The complete database of annual utilization data reported by primary care clinics contains basic clinic identification information including community services, clinic staffing data, and patient and staff language data; financial information including gross revenue, itemized write-offs by program, an income statement, and selected capital project items; and information on encounters by service, principal diagnosis, and procedure codes (CPT codes). The complete database of annual utilization data reported by specialty clinics contains basic information including the number of surgical operating rooms, number of surgeries performed, number of patients, number of encounters by service type, and major capital expenditures.

• Primary Care Service Areas
  Nationwide data United States primary health care resources, populations and utilization, compiled and presented in newly developed units of analysis (Primary Care Service Areas) and related to other geopolitical regions.

• Princeton Affect and Time Survey (May-August 2006)
  

• Public Patient Discharge Data [California]
  Captures information for each inpatient discharged from a California hospital. Annual data holdings begin in 1983. Documentation is available at (DSS)RA981.C3.C35 and RA981.C3 P824 . DSS Study #2947 is restricted and stored on a secure server. Access will be granted after authorization. Please sign the form and give to the Data Librarian. Former title is California Patient Discharge Data. Summary data for 1999+ is available through their web site.

• Research Archive on Disability in the U.S. (RADIUS)
  Facilitates access to the best data sets on the prevalence, incidence, correlates, and consequences of disability in the U.S. Part of Sociometrics.

• Retirement History Longitudinal Survey (1969-1979)
  10 year longitudinal study that investigated the changes in the economic and social characteristics of men and unmarried women in the United States, aged 58-63, as they approached and entered the retirement phase of their lives. The main purpose of the study was to assess the Social Security Program's provisions for retired workers, not only for recording the socioeconomic situation of Social Security beneficiaries, but also to aid policymakers in planning program changes. Covers (1) labor force history, (2) retirement and retirement plans, (3) health, (4) household, family, and social activities, and (5) income, assets, and debts.

• Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results Program (SEER) 1973+
  Provides cancer data.

• Time, Love, and Cash in Couples With Children Study (TLC3) [United States], 2000-2005
  Consists of complete transcriptions of 4 waves of individual and couple interviews with parents who experienced a birth in 2000, with over-sampling for nonmarital births. Both mothers and fathers participated in semi-structured, in-depth interviews both individually and as a couple in each of the four waves.

  Sample Size: 756 interviews. Sample is embedded in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. Participants were chosen based on a stratified, random sampling scheme from Chicago, New York, and Milwaukee. Nonmarital births were oversampled.

• UNICEF Global Database on Breastfeeding Indicators
  

• UNICEF: Monitoring the Situation of Children and Women
  Contains the full range of statistical information made available by UNICEF. Includes the official global statistical databases published in The State of the World's Children. Indicators on child survival and health, child nutrition, maternal health, water and sanitation, education, child protection, HIV/AIDS, immunization, and Millennium Development Goals.

• United States National Health Measurement Study, 2005-2006
  Surveyed older adults with a suite of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) indices to allow comparison and cross-calibration of these instruments. Oversampled African Americans and older individuals to allow subgroup analyses. Several preference-weighted indices measuring self-reported generic HRQoL are used widely in population surveys and clinical studies in the United States and around the world. These indices are used to evaluate individual and population health. Each index uses a multidimensional representation of health, but each index covers the dimensions of health (e.g., physical function, mental function, social function, pain, other symptoms, etc.) differently, and uses questionnaires with different psychometric properties. Each index is scored so that perfect health is represented as 1.0 and dead is represented as 0.0, but they are known to have different scaling properties. Respondents indicated whether they had been diagnosed with coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes, arthritis, eye disease, sleep disorder, chronic respiratory disease, clinical depression or anxiety disorder, gastrointestinal ulcer, thyroid disorder, and/or severe chronic back pain. Census tract is not identified, however race composition, education levels, economic factors, and urbanicity of each respondent's census tract of residence are included as contextual variables. Demographic, socioeconomic, and additional health data were elicited. Respondents are characterized by census region of residence, age, gender, marital status, race, ethnicity, education, household income and assets, health insurance, weight, height, smoking status, psychological well-being scales, and everyday and lifetime discrimination items.

  Sample Size: Noninstitutionalized adults aged 35-89 residing in the continental United States in households with landline telephones. 3,844 adults (1,641 males and 2,203 females, 1,086 African Americans).

• USDA Nationwide Food Surveys, 1935-1998
  Data is also stored locally for 1985-1986 (Continuing survey of food intakes by individuals 1985-1986 : women 19-50 years of age and their children 1-5 years of age, 6 waves, 1985) and 1994-1996, 1998 (Continuing survey of food intakes by individuals 1994-1996, 1998). Continued by What We Eat In America, NHANES.

• Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three-City Study (1999+)
  Intensive study in Boston, Chicago, and San Antonio to assess the well-being of low-income children and families in the post-welfare reform era. Investigates the strategies families have used to respond to reform, in terms of employment, schooling or other forms of training, residential mobility, and fertility. Central to this project is a focus on how these strategies affect children's lives, with an emphasis on their health and development as well as their need for, and use of, social services.

• Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS) (1957+)
  Provides an opportunity to study the life course, intergenerational transfers and relationships, family functioning, physical and mental health and well-being, and morbidity and mortality from late adolescence through middle age. WLS data also cover social background, youthful aspirations, schooling, military service, labor market experiences, family characteristics and events, social participation, psychological characteristics, and retirement. Survey data were collected from the original respondents or their parents in 1957, 1964, 1975, 1992, and 2004; from a selected sibling in 1977, 1994, and 2005; from the spouse of the original respondent in 2004; from the spouse of the selected sibling in 2006; and from widow(er)s of the graduates and siblings in 2006. Data are currently available from all collection rounds except the widows. These will be available in the future.

  Sample Size: Random sample of 10,317 men and women who graduated from Wisconsin high schools in 1957.

• World Health Organization Statistical Information System
  Some useful datasets available here include:
  
  • Burden of Disease Project
  • Maternal Mortality
  • Country Estimates of Health Personnel

• Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System 1991+
  Monitors health risk behaviors that contribute markedly to the leading causes of death, disability, and social problems among youth and adults in the United States. These behaviors, often established during childhood and early adolescence, include tobacco use, unhealthy dietary behaviors, inadequate physical activity, alcohol and other drug use. Sexual behaviors that contribute to unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV infection. Behaviors that contribute to unintentional injuries and violence.