1981 Child Health Supplement to the National Health Interview Survey
Investigators: National Center for Health Statistics

The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) was designed to provide national data on the incidence of acute illness and accidental injuries, chronic conditions and impairments, disabilities, the utilization of health care services, and other health-related topics. In 1981, after several years of planning and preparation, a comprehensive supplement on children was included with the survey. One child from each eligible household was randomly selected, and data collected on a nationwide probability sample of 15,416 children 17 years of age and under. Questionnaire topics included family structure, child care arrangements, breastfeeding, motor and social development, medications, birth and prenatal events, lifetime hospitalizations and surgery, chronic conditions, weight, eyes and teeth, school attendance and performance, behavior problems, social effects of ill health, and sleep habits. Additional data about health and medical care were also collected as part of the core NHIS questionnaire. In all there are 1,416 variables in the Data Set. This Data Set should prove particularly useful as a baseline national sample for comparisons with smaller or more specialized samples. The microcomputer version of the raw data is an extract of 1,028 cases.

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