National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey II: Mortality Study, 1992

The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey II:
Mortality Study, 1992 (NH2MS) followed a subset of the participants in
the second National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES
II). The NH2MS cohort is comprised of adult respondents to the NHANES
II who were 30-75 years of age at the time of the NHANES II, and who
were interviewed and examined for NHANES II. Some participants who
were 74 years of age during their interview turned 75 years old
between their interview and the examination. The NHANES series of data
collections included standardized physical examinations, laboratory
tests, and interviews that covered various health-related topics. The
NH2MS was designed to investigate the association between factors
measured at baseline and overall mortality or death from specific
causes. The NH2MS involved searching national databases containing
information about mortality and causes of death. The study was
entirely passive: participants were not recontacted, nor were all
death certificates obtained. Instead, mortality status was ascertained
solely by computerized matching to national databases and evaluation
of the resulting matches. Furthermore, no recontact is planned in the
future. Rather, matching to the National Death Index (NDI) and to
other national databases will continue on a periodic basis. The
Mortality Status file (Part 1) contains mortality status and
demographic data for all NH2MS participants who were 30-75 years of
age at their NHANES II examination. The Cause of Death file (Part 2)
contains one record for each known decedent for whom multiple causes
of death were obtained (2,103 out of the 2,145 participants identified
as deceased). Cause of death is missing for some decedents either
because there was no matching record on the NCHS Multiple Cause of
Death files or the death certificate was not found through the state
vital statistics office.