Objectives: This paper provides an overview of the National Health Interview Survey Information System (NHISIS): its origins and history, its design and content, its management and dissemination as well as its uses for making public health policy. Methods: The National Health Interview Survey was conducted by face-to-face interviews with large cross-sectional sample surveys of the nation's population. Emphasis is given to the features in NHISIS from both the data manager's and data user's perspectives. Results: The major functions of NHISIS include data entry, validation, correction processing, data audits, and data management. The contents of the survey and database structure as well as the relationship among different data sets are illustrated. Users can link variables at individual- or household- levels or individuals within the same household. Conclusion: The database system is developed with accuracy, accessibility, flexibility, and policy relevance. The information of the database provides policy makers useful insight in making public health decisions. Release of the health statistics on the World Wide Web is another major mission of NHISIS.
Date:
2003-12
Relation:
Taiwan Journal of Public Health. 2003 Dec;22(6):431-440.
