Appendix: NHANES

NHANES

The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) is a cross-sectional survey that is designed to provide nationally representative data on the health and nutritional status of the non-institutionalized, civilian US population. This survey is conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics, that provides valuable data on a wide range of health issues, such as diabetes, obesity, as well as nutrition, physical activity, and environmental exposures.

Components

NHANES combines interviews, physical examinations, and laboratory tests to gather comprehensive health and nutrition information about participants.

Design

The survey selects participants using a complex sampling design, which allows researchers to make inferences about the overall health of the US population. The survey uses a complex, multistage probability sampling design to select participants from US households.

Usefulness

The collected data is used by many researchers, policymakers, and public health officials to identify emerging health issues, monitor trends in health and inform public health policies and initiatives to improve health-related outcomes in the US.

Cylces we used

NHANES is an ongoing annual survey, continuous NHANES cycles started from 1999-2000 (cycle 1; see SDDSRVYR variable in the Demographic Variables & Sample Weights component). NHANES cycles 8, 9, and 10 (that we used in this tutorial) refer to the 8th, 9th, and 10th rounds of surveys, which took place from 2013-2014, 2015-2016, and 2017-2018, respectively. Each cycle involves a nationally representative sample of the US population.