Description

CLEFTPALNOWC indicates whether the person now has chronic cleft palate. 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 CLEFTPALNOWC) created from the pre-1997 condition records, see the User Note on Condition Records and Condition Variables.

Defining Cleft Palate Records and Identifying Persons with Cleft Palate

For all available years, persons who were asked a direct question about having a cleft palate and who have a chronic cleft palate condition record are given a "Yes" code for CLEFTPALNOWC. Persons who were asked a direct question about having cleft palate but do not have a chronic cleft palate record are given a code of "No." Persons who were not asked a direct question about cleft palate, 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 cleft palate record.

For 1971, 1977, and 1978, chronic cleft palate records were defined as those condition records with a code of "X91" ("cleft palate and harelip [with speech defect]") in the variable DIAGR1 in the original NHIS public use files. This condition code value comes from NCHS's Diagnostic Recode #1: Diseases, Injuries, and Impairments not from the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes. Additionally, to be considered "chronic," cleft palate records must have a code of "1" ("Chronic") in the variable CACODE in the original NHIS public use files.

For 1979 to 1981, chronic cleft palate records were defined as those condition records with a code of either "X91" or "X91.9" ("cleft palate and harelip [with speech defect]") in the variable DIAGR1 in the original NHIS public use files. This condition code value comes from NCHS's Diagnostic Recode #1: Diseases, Injuries, and Impairments not from the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes. As with earlier years, to be considered "chronic," cleft palate records must have a code of "1" ("Chronic") in the variable CACODE in the original NHIS public use files.

For 1982 to 1996, chronic cleft palate records were defined as those condition records with a code of "238" ("cleft palate") 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.

Weights
For 1971 and 1977, CLEFTPALNOWC should be weighted with PERWEIGHT.

For 1978 to 1981, CLEFTPALNOWC should be weighted with CONDWT4.

For 1982 to 1996, CLEFTPALNOWC should be weighted with CONDWT2.

Comparability

As with all of the person-level condition variables created by IHIS from condition records prior to 1997, the universe for CLEFTPALNOWC 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 currently having cleft palate. This change requires that different weight variables be used depending on which years of data are analyzed. See the "Description" 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

• 1971, 1977-1996

Weights

• 1971, 1977 : PERWEIGHT
• 1982-1996 : CONDWT2
• 1978-1981 : CONDWT4