NCHS Dataline

The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has published the 40th edition of Health, United States, 2016: With Chartbook on Long-term Trends in Health. The National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) has a new web service featuring key statistics from the survey that users can search by topic. A new fact sheet on drug-poisoning deaths highlights recent findings and describes the steps being taken to improve data on this topic. Long-term trends in health insurance coverage, 1968-2016, are now available from NCHS.

Health, United States, 2016 Released

Health, United States, 2016: With Chartbook on Long-term Trends in Health is the 40th report on the health status of the nation and is submitted by the secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services to the president and the Congress of the United States. ¹ This report was compiled by NCHS using data from various NCHS data systems, other federal agencies, and private sector sources. The Health, United States series presents an annual overview of national trends in health statistics. The report also contains a chartbook that assesses the nation’s health by presenting trends and current information on selected measures of health; this year’s chartbook focuses on long-term trends in health. The chartbook contains 27 figures on trends in health and health care since 1975. The chartbook’s 5 sections cover the following:

the demographic and socioeconomic factors that have influenced the nation’s health during the past 40 years;

health status and determinants—life expectancy, infant mortality, leading causes of death, birth rates, cigarette smoking, obesity, untreated dental caries, diabetes prevalence, and uncontrolled hypertension;

trends in health care use—use of prescription drugs, health care and emergency department visits, overnight hospital stays, and cancer screening tests;

changes in health care resources—hospitals, primary and specialist physicians, and nursing homes; and

trends in health care expenditures—personal health care expenditures, mental health and substance use expenditures, Medicare managed care enrollment by state, and health insurance coverage.

The report also contains 114 trend tables centered on 4 subjects: health status and determinants, health care use, health care resources, and health care expenditures. PowerPoint slides of the chartbook figures and trend tables are available online at https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/hus/contents2016.htm as PDFs and Microsoft Excel files. Updates to the tables are posted periodically. A companion report, Health, United States, 2016: At a Glance, summarizes information extracted from the full report. ²

“Key Statistics From the National Survey of Family Growth”

“Key Statistics From the National Survey of Family Growth” is a new feature on the NCHS website that presents some of the most useful and frequently used findings from the NSFG. ³ All results are from published reports or special tabulations. Where available, a hyperlink to the source report is given. Reports provide details that may be helpful in interpreting the findings, such as the demographic or public health importance of the data, definitions of technical terms, and results for subgroups (eg, by age, Hispanic origin, race, or education).

The NSFG gathers information on family life, marriage, divorce, pregnancy, infertility, use of contraception, and men’s and women’s health. The survey has been conducted since the 1970s, and the most recent data are for 2013-2015. The NSFG was first designed to be nationally representative of women aged 15-44 in the civilian, noninstitutionalized US population. Later changes to the NSFG included adding an independent sample of men and expanding the age range to 15-49. NSFG is conducted through in-person interviews; some of the more sensitive questions are answered privately by self-administered surveys. Interviews are voluntary and confidential. The survey results are used to plan health services and health education programs and to conduct statistical studies of families, fertility, and health.

“NCHS Data on Drug-Poisoning Deaths”

A new fact sheet on the NCHS website describes NCHS data on drug-poisoning deaths, highlights recent findings, maps drug overdoses by state, and indicates actions being taken to improve the quality of data on drug-poisoning deaths. ⁴ Data on drug-poisoning deaths come from the National Vital Statistics System, which monitors deaths from all causes, including those caused by drug poisoning (overdose). The National Vital Statistics System collects mortality information from death certificates in all 50 US states and the District of Columbia. NCHS identifies the number of drug-poisoning deaths from information on death certificates. In 2015, approximately 17% of death certificates for drug-poisoning deaths lacked information on the specific drugs involved.

Drug poisoning is the leading cause of injury death in the United States, and the age-adjusted death rate more than tripled, from 6.1 per 100 000 population in 1999 to 16.3 in 2015. The fact sheet shows the rates of drug-poisoning deaths by type of drug involved (eg, heroin, natural and semisynthetic opioids, methadone, synthetic opioids, cocaine, and psychostimulants) and by age, sex, and race. Death rates for 2015 are mapped by state. NCHS recognizes that the data on drug-poisoning deaths have significant gaps and limitations, and it is working with state vital records officials, medical examiners, and coroners to improve the reporting of drugs involved, the timeliness of reporting drug-poisoning deaths, and the automated cause-of-death coding systems for faster reporting; to explore opportunities to link electronic death records to electronic health records; and to develop the capacity to support monthly reporting of drug-poisoning deaths.

Data on Long-term Trends in Health Insurance Coverage Available

A new resource for data on health insurance coverage is now available on the NCHS website. ⁵ Based on data from the National Health Interview Survey, the special tabulations show trends in health insurance coverage from 1968 to 2016 for the civilian, noninstitutionalized population aged <65. For all but the earliest years, data are provided on the percentage of the population and the numbers with health insurance by insurance type: private (through an employer and/or other private sources) and public (Medicaid, Medicare, or other public sources). In 1968, 79.3% of the population had private health insurance, compared with 65.3% in 2016. In 1976, the first year when data on each type of coverage were available, 78.9% of the population had private insurance (68.5% through an employer and 10.3% from another private source); 4.9% were covered by Medicaid, 0.2% by Medicare, and 2.6% by other public programs; and 14.1% were uninsured. The comparable percentages for 2016 were as follows: 65.3% covered by private insurance (57.2% through an employer and 7.7% from another private source); 21.3% covered by Medicaid, 2.8% by Medicare, and 2.9% by other public programs; and 10.3% were uninsured.

Sandra S. Smith, MPH Communications Consultant with the National Center for Health Statistics, Hyattsville, MD, USA