Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III)

Public-Use Data Files

   HYPERLINK
"http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/elec_prods/subject/nhanes3.htm" \l
"description1#description1"  Survey description

   HYPERLINK
"http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/elec_prods/subject/nhanes3.htm" \l
"description#description"  Data file description

   HYPERLINK
"http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/elec_prods/subject/nhanes3.htm" \l
"list#list"  Survey components 

   HYPERLINK
"http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/elec_prods/subject/nhanes3.htm" \l
"tech#tech"  Technical characteristics

   HYPERLINK
"http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/elec_prods/subject/nhanes3.htm" \l
"geographic#geographic"  Geographic coverage

   HYPERLINK
"http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/elec_prods/subject/nhanes3.htm" \l
"avail#avail"  Data availability 

   HYPERLINK
"http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/elec_prods/subject/nhanes3.htm" \l
"order#order"  Ordering information     HYPERLINK
"http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/elec_prods/subject/nhanes3.htm" \l
"content#content"  Documentation contents

   HYPERLINK
"http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/elec_prods/subject/nhanes3.htm" \l
"relate#relate"  Related reports 

   HYPERLINK
"http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/elec_prods/subject/nhanes3.htm" \l
"contact#contact"  Contacts

   HYPERLINK "http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/datawh/ferret/ferret.htm"  FERRET

   HYPERLINK "http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes.htm"  NHANES Web Site 

Survey description

The Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III),
1988-94, was conducted on a nationwide probability sample of
approximately 33,994 persons 2 months and over. The survey was designed
to obtain nationally representative information on the health and
nutritional status of the population of the United States through
interviews and direct physical examinations. Physical examinations and
objective measures are employed because the information collected cannot
be furnished or is not available in a standardized manner through
interviews with the people themselves or through records maintained by
the health professionals who provide their medical care.

Some of the 30 topics investigated in the NHANES III were: high blood
pressure, high blood cholesterol, obesity, passive smoking, lung
disease, osteoporosis, HIV, hepatitis, helicobacter pylori, immunization
status, diabetes, allergies, growth and development, blood lead, anemia,
food sufficiency, dietary intake-including fats, antioxidants, and
nutritional blood measures.

Data file description

The NHANES III consists of five separate files: Adult Household Data,
Youth Household Data, Examination Data, Laboratory Data, and Dietary
Recall Data. These data files are from the full 6 years of the NHANES
III, 1988-94, and contains nearly all the data collected in the survey.

List of survey components at a glance

Allergy skin test

Body measurements

Bone densitometry

Central nervous system function evaluation

Demographic data

Dental examination

Diagnostic interview schedule (DIS)

Food frequency

Fundus photography

Gallbladder ultrasonography 

Home examination

Laboratory

MEC adult questionnaire

Mobile examination center (MEC) proxy questionnaire

Physician's examination

Physical function evaluation

Total nutrients intakes

Data file technical characteristics

The following list describes the specific characteristics of each file.
The block size and record length pertain to data stored on tape.

Title	Record

length	Block

size	Number of

records

Adult household data	3,346	23,422	20,050

Lab data	1,977	21,747	29,314

Youth household data	2,101	23,111	13,944

Examination data	6,233	18,699	31,311



Dietary recall data



	Combination food	164	23,452	86,900

Individual food frequency	208	23,296	448,892

Variable ingredient food	38	23,446	126,070

Geographic coverage 

The NHANES III included the civilian noninstituionalized population of
the conterminous United States.

Data availability 

The NHANES III data files contain all data collected over the entire
course of the survey. Data are available on   HYPERLINK
"http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/elec_prods/intro/abtpudf.htm" \l
"dtape"  tape  and   HYPERLINK
"http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/elec_prods/intro/abtpudf.htm" \l
"cd-rom"  CD-ROM . Data on CD-ROM with the Statistical Export and
Tabulation System   HYPERLINK "http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/sets.htm"  (SETS)
 retrieval software contain all files, except for the Dietary recall
data files. Additionally, a separate CD-ROM contains a complete set of
the five NHANES III data files and documentation, as well as the
necessary SAS code to create SAS data sets in ASCII format.

Other studies similar to the NHANES III are:   HYPERLINK
"http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/elec_prods/subject/hhanes.htm"  HHANES
,   HYPERLINK
"http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/elec_prods/subject/nhanes1.htm" 
NHANES I ,   HYPERLINK
"http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/elec_prods/subject/nhanesii.htm" 
NHANES II , and NHES,   HYPERLINK
"http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/elec_prods/subject/nhes1.htm"  Cycle I
,   HYPERLINK
"http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/elec_prods/subject/nhes2.htm"  Cycle 2
, and   HYPERLINK
"http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/elec_prods/subject/nhes3.htm"  Cycle 3
.

Ordering information

Data tapes from the NHANES III can only be purchased through the
National Technical Information Service   HYPERLINK
"http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/elec_prods/intro/ntsorder.htm"  (NTIS)
. The CD-ROM can be purchased from NTIS and the Government Printing
Office   HYPERLINK
"http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/elec_prods/intro/gpoorder.htm"  (GPO)
. The NTIS and GPO order numbers are as follows:

Data on tape

Data year	NTIS

order no.	Price

1988-94	PB97-503338	$1,200.00

 

Data on CD-ROM with SETS   HYPERLINK
"http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/elec_prods/subject/errata.htm"  (see
errata) 

Data year	GPO order no.	Price

1988-94	017-022-01388-6	$20.00

 	NTIS order no.	 

1988-94	PB97-502959	$60.00

 

Data on CD-ROM in ASCII format   HYPERLINK
"http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/elec_prods/subject/errata.htm"  (see
errata)  

Data year	 

1988-94	  HYPERLINK "http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/mail/mail.htm"  Contact
NCHS 

Documentation contents

Each NHANES III product contains the necessary documentation, including
tape content and technical information, needed to access the data. All
documentation is included electronically on the data tape and CD-ROMs.

The NHANES III   HYPERLINK
"http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/elec_prods/subject/video.htm" 
Anthropometric Video  contains the standardized anthropometric
procedures used throughout NHANES III for the body measurement component
of the survey.

Related reports

Background information on the procedures, survey components,
questionnaires, examination and laboratory methods, and statistical
analysis guidelines is available on the NHANES III Reference Manuals and
Reports   HYPERLINK
"http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/elec_prods/subject/han3rom.htm" 
(CD-ROM) . All data users are strongly encouraged to review these
reference materials and reports before analyzing the data. 

A detailed description of the design and operation of NHANES III is
provided in Vital and Health Statistics,   HYPERLINK
"http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/series/sr01/pre-21/pre-21.ht
m"  Series 1, No. 32 , which contain a detailed analysis of NHANES III.
Survey results are available in the Advance Data   HYPERLINK
"http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/ad/260-251/260-251.htm" 
Nos. 255 and 258 . Additional survey results will be published in  
HYPERLINK
"http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/series/sr11/ser11.htm" 
Series 11  of the Vital and Health Statistics series.

 

