National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), 1994-2008: Wave IV Biomarker Data [Restricted Use]

The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) is a longitudinal study of a nationally representative sample of adolescents in grades 7-12 in the United States during the 1994-1995 school year. The Add Health cohort has been followed into young adulthood with four in-home interviews, the most recent in 2008, when the sample was aged 24-32. Add Health combines longitudinal survey data on respondents' social, economic, psychological, and physical well-being with contextual data on the family, neighborhood, community, school, friendships, peer groups, and romantic relationships, providing unique opportunities to study how social environments and behaviors in adolescence are linked to health and achievement outcomes in young adulthood. The fourth wave of interviews expanded the collection of biological data in Add Health to understand the social, behavioral, and biological linkages in health trajectories as the Add Health cohort ages through adulthood. This component of the Add Health restricted data is the Biomarker Data. The Glucose/HbA1c data file contains two measures of glucose homeostasis based on assays of the Wave IV dried blood spots: Glucose (mg/dl) and Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c, %). Six additional constructed measures -- fasting duration, classification of fasting glucose, classification of non-fasting glucose, classification of HbA1c, diabetes medication, and a joint classification of glucose, HbA1c, self-reported history of diabetes, and anti-diabetic medication use -- are also included. The Lipids data file contains measures of triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and total cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio. Additional variables include, measurement method for triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein choleserol (HDL-C), Antihyperlipidemic medication use, joint classification of self-reported history of Hyperlipidemia and Antihyperlipidemic medication use, and fasting duration. For more information, please see the study website.