Description

NASEPTUMYRC indicates whether the person had a chronic deflected or deviated nasal septum in the past year. This variable is created with supplemental programming by the IPUMS NHIS staff from the pre-1997 condition records. For general information about IHIS variables (such as NASEPTUMYRC) created from the pre-1997 condition records, see the User Note on Condition Records and Condition Variables.

Defining Deflected/Deviated Nasal Septum Records and Identifying Persons with a Deflected/Deviated Nasal Septum

For all available years, persons who were asked a direct question about having a deflected or deviated nasal septum and who have a chronic deflected/deviated nasal septum condition record are given a "Yes" code for NASEPTUMYRC. Persons who were asked a direct question about a deflected/deviated nasal septum but do not have a chronic deflected/deviated nasal septum record are given a code of "No." Persons who were not asked a direct question about a deflected/deviated nasal septum, or for whom it is unknown whether they were asked such a question, are given a code of "NIU" (not in universe), regardless of whether they have a chronic deflected/deviated nasal septum record.

For 1970 and 1978, deflected/deviated nasal septum records were defined as those condition records with a code of "504" ("Deflected nasal septum") in the variable DCICDCOD in the original NHIS public use files. These condition code values come from the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), Revision 8. Additionally, to be considered "chronic," deflected/deviated nasal septum condition records must have a code of "1" ("Chronic") in the variable CACODE in the original NHIS public use files.

For 1979 to 1981, deflected/deviated nasal septum records were defined as those condition records with a code of "470" ("Deflected nasal septum") in the variable DCICDCOD in the original NHIS public use files. These condition code values come from ICD Revision 9. As with earlier years, to be considered "chronic," deflected/deviated nasal septum condition records must have a code of "1" ("Chronic") in the variable CACODE in the original NHIS public use files.

For 1982 to 1996, chronic deflected/deviated nasal septum records were defined as those condition records with a code of "606" ("Deviated nasal septum") in the variable C1CONDRC in the original NHIS public use files. This condition code value comes from NCHS's Diagnostic Recode C: Chronic Conditions and Impairments.

Comparability

As with all of the person-level condition variables created by IHIS from condition records prior to 1997, the universe for NASEPTUMYRC is substantially different for 1978 forward than it is for years prior to 1978. Beginning in 1978, only persons living in 1/6 of households, rather than all persons, were asked a direct question about having a deflected/deviated nasal septum in the past year. This change requires that different weight variables be used depending on which years of data are analyzed. See the "Weights" tab for details.

Additionally, there is a change in the way "Yes" responses are coded over time. See the User Note on Condition Records and Condition Variables for details about the composite coding scheme employed by IHIS.

Universe

Availability

• 1970, 1978-1996

Weights

• 1970 : PERWEIGHT
• 1978-1996 : CONDWT6