Description

NEURALGYRC indicates whether the person had chronic neuritis or neuralgia 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 NEURALGYRC) created from the pre-1997 condition records, see the User Note on Condition Records and Condition Variables.

Defining Neuritis/Neuralgia Records and Identifying Persons with Neuritis/Neuralgia

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

For 1973 and 1978-1981, neuritis or neuralgia records were defined as those condition records with a code of "114" ("Neuralgia and neuritis, [not otherwise specified], [not elsewhere classified]") or a code of "115" ("Neuralgia, neuritis, specified sites and types, [not elsewhere classified]") in the variable DIAGR1 in the variable DCICDCOD 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," neuritis or neuralgia 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 neuritis or neuralgia records were defined as those condition records with a code of "408" ("Neuralgia or neuritis, unspecified") 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 NEURALGYRC 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 neuritis or neuralgia 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 "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

• 1973, 1978-1996

Weights

• 1973 : PERWEIGHT
• 1978-1981 : CONDWT3
• 1983-1996 : CONDWT4
• 1982 : CONDWT5