Description

HERNIAYRC indicates whether the person had a chronic hernia 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 HERNIAYRC) created from the pre-1997 condition records, see the User Note on Condition Records and Condition Variables.

Defining Hernia Records and Identifying Persons with a Hernia

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

For 1975 and 1978-1981, hernia records were defined as those condition records with a code of "168" ("Hernia of abdominal cavity") in the variable DIAGR1 in the original NHIS public use files. These condition code values come from NCHS's Diagnostic Recode #1: Diseases, Injuries, and Impairments, not from the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes. Additionally, to be considered "chronic," hernia 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 hernia records were defined as those condition records with a code of "306" ("Hernia of abdominal cavity") 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 1975, HERNIAYRC should be weighted with PERWEIGHT.

For 1978 to 1981, HERNIAYRC should be weighted with CONDWT1.

For 1982 to 1996, HERNIAYRC should be weighted with CONDWT3.

Comparability

As with all of the person-level condition variables created by IHIS from condition records prior to 1997, the universe for HERNIAYRC 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 hernia in the past year. There is also a minor universe change between the sets of years 1978-1981 and 1982-1996. These changes require 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

• 1975, 1978-1996

Weights

• 1975 : PERWEIGHT
• 1978-1981 : CONDWT1
• 1982-1996 : CONDWT3