Summary health statistics for the U.S. population: National Health Interview Survey, 2012.
OBJECTIVE
This report presents both age-adjusted and unadjusted health statistics from the 2012 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) for the civilian noninstitutionalized population of the United States. Estimates are disaggregated by sex, age, race, Hispanic origin, education, family income, poverty status, health insurance coverage (where appropriate), place of residence, and region of residence. The topics covered are respondent-assessed health status, limitations in activities, injury and poisoning episodes, health care access and utilization, and health insurance coverage.


METHODS
NHIS is a household, multistage probability sample survey conducted annually by interviewers of the U.S. Census Bureau for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics. In 2012, household interviews were completed for 108,131 persons living in 42,366 households.


CONCLUSIONS
Nearly 7 in 10 persons were in excellent or very good health in 2012. About 40 million persons (12%) were limited in their usual activities due to one or more chronic health conditions. About 5 million persons (2%) required the help of another person with activities of daily living, and about 10 million persons (4%) required the help of another person with instrumental activities of daily living. Among persons under age 65, about 45 million (17%) did not have any health insurance coverage. The most common reason for lacking health insurance was cost, followed by a change in employment.
Patricia F
PF
Adams
Whitney K
WK
Kirzinger
Michael
M
Martinez
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D019458:Insurance Coverage / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011041:Poisoning / Q000453:epidemiology; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult