Codes and Frequencies
Description
DITLCONVHP reports if persons informed a conventional medical professional about their use of a special diet. Please see the Comparability, Universe, and Survey Text Tabs for important information on changes in how this variable was collected and constructed over time.
For information about the full range of variables related to special diets, including definitions, see DITATKINYR. For related variables and more information, please see TABDOM1, or use the search function or IPUMS NHIS drop-down menus.
Comparability
Prior to 2012, sample adults who had seen a practitioner for a special diet during the past 12 months were asked their reasons for using this therapy.
Beginning in 2012, sample adults and sample children aged 4-17were instead asked to select three of sixteen therapies that were most important and only asked the series of questions related to treating health problems, symptoms, or conditions as well as reasons for and importance of use for these top three therapies. Persons who did not include special diets among their top three CAM therapies did not answer follow up questions for this therapy beginning in 2012 and are reported as responding "no".
Prior to 2012, persons were asked if they had told any conventional medical practitioner about their use of this therapy, and asked a follow up question about which practitioners they had told. The list of conventional medical practitioners on the card shown to respondents was shorter in 2002 than in 2007 and no specified list of conventional medical practitioners was included in 2012. Thus, a "No" response under the 2002 question wording might have been a "Yes" response wording of the question in later years. Researchers should thus exercise caution in comparing results across years.
Because of the question wording in 2002, it is unclear among persons who answered "No," if persons many meant, "No, I did not tell any of these conventional medical professionals, even though I saw at least one of them" and how many meant, "No, I did not tell any of these conventional medical professionals, and I did not see any of them." Perhaps because of this ambiguity, response categories were limited to "Yes" and "No" beginning in 2007.
To maximize comparability across years without sacrificing detail, IHIS uses composite coding for this variable. The first digit indicates broad categories of "No" (codes beginning with 1), "Yes" (codes beginning with 2), and "Unknown" (codes beginning with 9). The second digit supplies detail present in only some years, such as distinguishing between "No" (IHIS code 10) and "Did not go/talk to any of these" (IHIS code 11) in 2002. Researchers who wish to maximize comparability across years can combine categories beginning with the number 1 into a single "No" category.
Universe
- 2002: Sample adults age 18+ who have used at least one of these special diets for two weeks or more for health reasons during the past 12 months.
- 2007: Sample adults age 18+ who have used a special diet during the past 12 months.
- 2012: Sample adults age 18+ and sample children ages 4-17 who have reported having at least one top CAM therapy and using this therapy to treat a specific health problem or condition.
Availability
- 2002, 2007, 2012
Weights
- 2002, 2007 : SAMPWEIGHT
- 2012 : SUPP4WT
