New National Survey of Children’s Health
May 28, 2009 - The 2007 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) has just been released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics. The NSCH is a national telephone survey conducted in English and Spanish that tracks the prevalence and impact of a wide spectrum of health topics for children ages 0-17 in all 50 States and the District of Columbia. The 2007 survey examined the physical and emotional health of children and special emphasis was placed on medical homes, family interactions, parental health, school and after-school experiences, and safe neighborhoods.
NSCH includes national and state profiles as well as comparisons. Survey results show, for instance, that the percent of children in excellent or very good health in the state of Virginia is higher (88%) than the national percentage (84.4%). In addition, results indicate that 15.3 percent of children ages 10-17 in the U.S. are overweight and that 16.4 are obese.
Information from the survey is designed to assist states in child health systems planning, evaluation and program development, and to inform organizations that work directly with children and their families, such as schools. The Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative (CAHMI) has set up a website, called the Data Resource Center, to generate a "point and click" online access to the national and state findings of the NSCH. Through this website, people can get and compare state-level data on over 100 child health indicators, in addition to viewing findings by many subgroups of children, such as by household income, race/ethnicity, insurance coverage and health status. The website also offers a 2007 and 2003 results comparison and access to the National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs.
Additionally, the MCH Information Resource Center, funded by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), is offering a web conference on the 2007 NSCH on Tuesday, June 2, 2009, 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. ET (1 p.m. Central, 12 Noon Mountain, 11 a.m. Pacific). This web conference will be one of the very first presentations on the results of the survey and will provide an overview of the survey methodology, discuss potential applications of the survey as well as selected findings, and provide information about accessing national- and state-level survey data online and highlight key state-level survey results. For full program details, please click here. To register for this event, click here.
The NSCH was conducted for the first time in 2003 and repeated again in 2007. The 2007 survey was revised to include many new indicators and a new section on chronic health conditions and severity of condition. Approximately 86,000 children participated in the 2007 survey sample.
Source: CDC's National Center for Health Statistics website and the Data Resource Center website.