Description

HEARTOTHYRC indicates whether the person had chronic "other" heart trouble 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 HEARTOTHYRC) created from the pre-1997 condition records, see the User Note on Condition Records and Condition Variables.

Defining Other Heart Trouble Records and Identifying Persons with Other Heart Trouble

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

For 1972 and 1978, chronic heart trouble records were defined as those condition records with a code of "130" ("Heart trouble, not otherwise specified, or ill-defined") in the variable DIAGR1 in the original NHIS public use files. This condition code value comes from NCHS's Diagnostic Recode #1: Diseases, Injuries, and Impairments, not from the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes. Additionally, to be considered "chronic," heart trouble condition records must have a code of "1" ("Chronic") in the variable CACODE in the original NHIS public use files.

For 1979 to 1996, heart trouble records were defined as those condition records with a code of "4290" through "4299" ("Ill-defined descriptions and complications of heart disease") in the variable DCICDCOD in the original NHIS public use files. These condition code values come from ICD Revision 9. As with earlier years, to be considered "chronic," heart trouble condition records must have a code of "1" ("Chronic") in the variable CACODE in the original NHIS public use files.

Comparability

As with all of the person-level condition variables created by IHIS from condition records prior to 1997, the universe for HEARTOTHYRC 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 other heart trouble in the past year. This change requires 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

• 1972, 1978-1996

Weights

• 1972 : PERWEIGHT
• 1978-1996 : CONDWT5