Description

DEAFNOWC indicates whether the person now has chronic deafness in both ears. 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 DEAFNOWC) created from the pre-1997 condition records, see the User Note on Condition Records and Condition Variables.

Defining Deafness Records and Identifying Persons with Deafness

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

For 1971 and 1977, chronic deafness records were defined as those condition records with a code of "X06" ("Deafness, total, both ears including deaf-mutism. Includes persons, with or without speech, who are completely deaf") in the variable DIAGR1 in the original NHIS public use files.

For 1978-1981, chronic deafness records were defined as those condition records with a code of "X05" ("Deafness, both ears. Includes persons who have no useful hearing in both ears, or can't hear, both ears.)" in the variable DIAGR1 in the original NHIS public use files.

For 1971 and 1977-1981, these condition code values come from NCHS's Diagnostic Recode #1: Diseases, Injuries, and Impairments not from the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes.

For 1982 to 1996, chronic deafness records were defined as those condition records with a code of "241" ("deafness") in the variable C1CONDRB in the original NHIS public use files. This condition code value comes from NCHS's Diagnostic Recode B: Diseases, Injuries, and Impairments.

In all available years, to be considered "chronic," deafness records must also have a code of "1" ("Chronic") in the variable CACODE in the original NHIS public use files.

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

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

For 1982 to 1996, DEAFNOWC 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 DEAFNOWC 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 deafness. 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

• 1971, 1977-1996

Weights

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