Government Information, Statistics, and more!: National Center for Health Statistics

The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The NCHS collects, analyzes, and disseminates timely, relevant, and accurate health data and statistics. Their products and services inform the public and guide program and policy decisions to improve the nation’s health. The NCHS website is a rich source of information about America’s health.

The links directly below gather important sources of information found on the NCHS website that, in their experience, are of interest to students and librarians (librarians are interested in everything, so that is an easy guess on their part). Further down are a variety of links to information across the NCHS website.

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Publications and Information Products
Information on the country’s health is constantly changing. Over the years, NCHS has been instrumental in monitoring important changes in health trends. Each year, NCHS distributes hundreds of reports and other publications in a variety of formats, both electronic and hard copy.

• NCHS Publications and Information Products
  Descriptions of recurring and historic publications. Search for a publication using specified search criteria (e.g., keywords, title, and subject).
• NCHS Fact Sheets
  Quick guides presenting specific health topics and NCHS surveys and data-collection systems.
• NCHS E-Mail Updates
  Free e-mail subscription service, which allows subscribers to receive timely notifications when publications and information products become available.
• NCHS Listservs [The listservs are: Ambulatory Care List, Birth Publications List, National Hospital Care Survey Data List, International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, Long-Term Care List, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) Researchers, National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) Announcements, NCHS Data Linkage Program, and State and Local Area Integrated Telephone Survey (SLAITS). Subscribing and unsubscribing are both easy.]
• Publications Using NCHS Data
  A list of reports, articles, journals, studies, and other publications citing data from NCHS surveys.
• How to Cite NCHS Publications and Other Products (Citations are your friends!)

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Data and Statistics by Topic
NCHS provides a number of resources for quick access to statistics on important public health topics.

• FastStats: Statistics by Topic
  An A-Z index of major statistics on various health topics. References to source material and related pages are provided as well.
• Health, United States
  Health, United States presents national trends in health statistics on such topics as birth and death rates, infant mortality, life expectancy, morbidity and health status, risk factors, use of ambulatory and inpatient care, health personnel and facilities, financing of health care, health insurance, and other health topics.
• Summary Health Statistics from the National Health Interview Survey
  Summary Health Statistics are tables of descriptive statistics for various health measures including health status, conditions, health behaviors, activity limitations, health insurance coverage, and access and utilization of health care. Measures are shown for selected characteristics such as sex, age, race, ethnicity, family income, and region of the United States.

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Key Statistics from the National Survey of Family Growth

Main findings from the National Survey of Family Growth. All results are from published reports and include references to the source material.

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Data Collection Systems

Population Surveys National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey National Health Interview Survey National Survey of Family Growth

Vital Records National Vital Statistics System National Death Index Vital Statistics Rapid Release

Provider Surveys National Health Care Surveys National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey National Electronic Health Records Survey National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey National Hospital Care Survey National Post-acute and Long-term Care Study

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Programs

Partnerships & Collaboration Classification of Diseases, Functioning, and Disability (ICD & ICF classification) Collaborating Office of Medical Examiners and Coroners (COMEC) International Statistics Program Injury Healthy People Washington Group on Disability Statistics

Services National Death Index Research Data Center Collaborating Center for Questionnaire Design and Evaluation Research

Data Integration Data Linkage

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Topics

FastStats Diseases and Conditions Infectious/Immune Family Life Health Care and Insurance Disability and Risk Factors Injuries Life Stages and Populations Reproductive Health

COVID-19 Data from NCHS Deaths Cause-of-Death Certification Births and Pregnancies Health Care Access, Telemedicine, and Mental Health Health Care Access, Telemedicine, and Loss of Work Due to Illness Hospital Data

Health Policy Data Requests Chronic Conditions Coverage and Access Disability Mental Health Mortality Use of Health Care Services

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Data and Tools

Data Access Public Use Data Files and Documentation Restricted Data Data Linkage National Death Index RANDS Q-Bank: Question Evaluation for Surveys

Data Tools CDC WONDER WISQARS NHIS Interactive Data Query Tool

Data Analysis Aids Injury Tools and Frameworks SPACE program Urban/Rural Classification scheme for Counties Semi-Automated Non-response Detection for Surveys

Data Visualizations NCHS Data Visualization Gallery Stats of the States NHIS Interactive Data Query Tool

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Publications

Publications Data Briefs Early Release from the National Health Interview Survey Health E-Stats Health, United States Healthy People Publications National Health Statistics Reports National Vital Statistics Reports Vital and Health Statistics Series Vital Statistics Rapid Release

Historical Surveys and Discontinued Publications - An overview of surveys and programs administered by the National Center for Health Statistics that have been completed. (i.e. reports published a few years or a few decades ago and which are still useful.) Advance Data Monthly Vital Statistics Reports Public Health Service Publications Vital Statistics of the United States

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News and Events

NCHS Press Room Release Schedule Publications Archive Videos

NCHS Blog   Events and Announcements

Webinars Video recordings of earlier webinars are available.

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Visual Gallery

Data Visualizations: A collection of interactive tools that present NCHS data in a visually engaging format.

Visual Abstracts: A collection of products for disseminating scientific research in an engaging, easily digestible way. These serve as an adjunct to a full scientific report.