Description

CIRRHOSYRC indicates whether the person had chronic cirrhosis of the liver 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 CIRRHOSYRC) created from the pre-1997 condition records, see the User Note on Condition Records and Condition Variables.

Defining Cirrhosis Records and Identifying Persons with Cirrhosis

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

1975 and 1978

For 1975 and 1978, cirrhosis records were defined as those condition records with any of the following codes in the variable DCICDCOD in the original NHIS public use files:

• "5710" ("Alcoholic cirrhosis of liver")

• "5718" ("Other specified cirrhosis of liver")

• "5719" ("Unspecified cirrhosis of liver")

These condition code values come from the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) Revision 8. Additionally, to be considered "chronic," cirrhosis condition records must have a code of "1" ("Chronic") in the variable CACODE in the original NHIS public use files.

1979 to 1996

Beginning in 1979, NHIS began using ICD Revision 9 to code conditions. For 1979 to 1996, cirrhosis records were defined as those condition records with any of the following codes in the variable DCICDCOD in the original public use files:

• "5712" ("Alcoholic cirrhosis of liver")

• "5715" ("Cirrhosis of liver without mention of alcohol")

• "5716" ("Biliary cirrhosis")

As with earlier years, to be considered "chronic," cirrhosis condition records must also have a code of "1" ("Chronic") in the variable CACODE in the original NHIS public use files.

Weights
For 1975, CIRRHOSYRC should be weighted with PERWEIGHT.

For 1978 to 1996, CIRRHOSYRC should be weighted with CONDWT1.

Comparability

As with all of the person-level condition variables created by IHIS from condition records prior to 1997, the universe for CIRRHOSYRC 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 cirrhosis in the past year. 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

• 1975, 1978-1996

Weights

• 1975 : PERWEIGHT
• 1978-1996 : CONDWT1