Description

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

Defining Diabetes Records and Identifying Persons with Diabetes

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

For 1973, 1975, and 1978-1981, chronic diabetes records were defined as those condition records with a code of "7" ("Diabetes [mellitus]") in the variable DIAGR3 in the original NHIS public use files. This condition code value comes from NCHS's Diagnostic Recode C: Chronic Diseases and Impairments, not from the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes.

For 1982 to 1996, chronic diabetes records were defined as those condition records with a code of "403" ("Diabetes") 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 1973 and 1975, DIABETICYRC should be weighted with PERWEIGHT.

For 1978 to 1981, DIABETICYRC should be weighted with DIABWT.

For 1982 to 1996, DIABETICYRC should be weighted with CONDWT4.

Related Diabetes Variables
The nearest equivalent of DIABETICYRC available for 1997 forward is DIABETICEV (Ever told had diabetes). However, researchers should use caution when comparing prevalence estimates derived from these two variables, as both the manner of collecting information about diabetes and the reference period differ greatly between the two. DIABETICYRC was created by recoding condition records that were generated in response to several different survey questions about health problems underlying disability, sick days, or contacts with health care practitioners in the past year. DIABETICEV, by contrast, is based on a direct question about whether the person ever had the condition diabetes.

Comparability

As with all of the person-level condition variables created by IHIS from condition records prior to 1997, the universe for DIABETICYRC is substantially different for 1978 forward than it is for years prior to 1978. For 1978 to 1981, only persons living in 1/3 of households, rather than all persons, were asked a direct question about having diabetes in the past year. Beginning in 1982, the universe was narrowed to include only persons living in 1/6 of households. 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

• 1973, 1975, 1978-1996

Weights

• 1973, 1975 : PERWEIGHT
• 1983-1996 : CONDWT4
• 1982 : CONDWT5
• 1978-1981 : DIABWT