Reasons for Being Uninsured Among Adults Aged 18–64 in the United States, 2019

September 30, 2020

Questions for Amy Cha, Health Statistician and Lead Author of “Reasons for Being Uninsured Among Adults Aged 18–64 in the United States, 2019.”

Q: Why did you decide to do a report on this topic?

AC: In 2019, 14.5% of adults aged 18–64 were uninsured in the United States. Individuals without health insurance experience barriers to health care such as not having a usual source of care and postponing or forgoing care due to cost, which may lead to negative health outcomes. Therefore, in this report we evaluated the characteristics of uninsured adults aged 18–64 in 2019 and the percentage among uninsured adults who identified with six reasons for being currently uninsured.

Q: Was there a specific finding in the data that surprised you from this report?

AC: We were surprised that the percentage of adults who were uninsured due to cost was higher among women and adults in fair or poor health. The percentage who were uninsured due to cost increased with age from 66.8% among those aged 18–29 to 80.9% among those 50─64.

Q: How did you obtain this data for this report?

AC: The data for this report came from the 2019 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) Sample Adult component. NHIS is a nationally representative, household survey of the civilian noninstitutionalized U.S. population. In 2019, the NHIS questionnaire was redesigned to better meet the needs of data users. The data is publicly available on the NHIS website (https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis) with detailed data documentation.

Q: Is there any trend data for this report? If so, where can I find this data?

AC: We do not have any trend data for this report. With the NHIS redesign, questions concerning the reasons for being uninsured were asked in a different manner than in previous surveys and therefore are not comparable.

Q: What is the take home message for this report?

AC: Among uninsured adults aged 18–64, the most common reason for being currently uninsured was because they perceived that they could not afford the cost of coverage, followed by not being eligible, not wanting coverage, the process of signing up was too difficult or confusing, could not find a plan that meets their needs, and they signed up for coverage, but the plan has not started yet.

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QuickStats: Management of Patient Health Information Functions Among Office-Based Physicians With and Without a Certified Electronic Health Record (EHR) System

September 25, 2020

In 2018, 78.7% of office-based physicians had a certified electronic health record (EHR) system.

A higher percentage of office-based physicians with a certified EHR system compared with those without a system electronically sent (95.5% versus 72.8%), received (95.3% versus 69.0%), integrated (92.8% versus 67.4%), or searched for (90.5% versus 73.3%) patient health information.

Source: National Electronic Health Records Survey, 2018. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nehrs/about.htm.

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6938a8.htm

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QuickStats: Prevalence of Complete Tooth Loss Among Adults Aged 65 Years or Older by Federal Poverty Level — National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, United States, 1999–2018

September 18, 2020

The age-adjusted prevalence of complete tooth loss among adults aged 65 years or older decreased from 29.3% during 1999–2000 to 12.6% during 2017–2018.

For the same period, the prevalence decreased from 42.1% to 23.5% for adults living at less than 200% of the federal poverty level and from 17.7% to 8.5% for adults living at more than 200% of the federal poverty level.

Throughout the period, the prevalence of complete tooth loss was higher among those living at less than 200% of the federal poverty level.

Sources: Fleming E, Afful J, Griffin SO. Prevalence of tooth loss among older adults: United States, 2015–2018. NCHS data brief, no. 368. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db368.htm. National Center for Health Statistics, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2015–2018. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes.htm.

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6937a8.htm

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QuickStats: Age-Adjusted Lung Cancer Death Rates by State — National Vital Statistics System, United States, 2018

September 11, 2020

In 2018, the age-adjusted lung cancer death rate in the United States was 34.8 per 100,000.

Twenty-one states had a higher lung cancer death rate than the national rate, 15 states and DC had lower death rates, and 14 states had rates that were not statistically different from the national rate.

Most states with higher death rates were in the Midwest or Southeast. The five states with the highest age-adjusted lung cancer death rates were Kentucky (53.5), West Virginia (50.8), Mississippi (49.6), Arkansas (47.4), and Oklahoma (46.8).

The five jurisdictions with the lowest lung cancer death rates were Utah (16.4), New Mexico (22.5), Colorado (23.0), DC (24.6), and California (25.0).

Sources: National Center for Health Statistics. National Vital Statistics System, mortality data. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/deaths.htm; CDC. CDC WONDER online database. https://wonder.cdc.gov/ucd-icd10.html.

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6936a8.htm

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Fact or Fiction: Suicide rates among young people in the Northeastern United States have not increased much over the last decade

September 11, 2020

Source: National Vital Statistics System

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr69/NVSR-69-11-508.pdf

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Trends and Patterns in Menarche in the United States: 1995 through 2013-2017

September 10, 2020

Questions for Gladys Martinez, Health Statistician and Lead Author of “Trends and Patterns in Menarche in the United States: 1995 through 2013-2017.”

Q: Can you explain what menarche is?

GM: Menarche refers to the first menstrual period.

Q: Why did you decide to do a report on this topic?

GM: We decided to do a report on this topic because menarche is a biological milestone of the start of the period in which women can potentially get pregnant and because early menarche is associated with greater risk of health problems such as breast cancer, liver disease, etc.

Q: How did you obtain this data for this report?

GM: Data for this report came from a national sample of U.S. women aged 15-44 who were interviewed in person in 2013-2017.

Q: Is this the first report on age of first menstrual period?  Is there any trend data that goes back further than 1995?

GM:

This is the first report on age at menarche. We do not have published data before 1995, however there is data available on the mean age of menarche in previous National Survey of Family Growth reports. This is the first full report on age at menarche and the first to use this methodology to look at the probability of age at menarche by each age

Q: What is the take home message for this report?

GM: Age at menarche has decreased in the U.S. since 1995.  A higher proportion of young girls are experiencing menarche now than in earlier time periods.  Girls from higher socioeconomic status and those that lived with both parents by age 14 were less likely to experience menarche at an early age.  On average, the older the age at menarche, the older her age at first sexual intercourse.

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Fact or Fiction – Is the average age at first menstrual period for American women is 12 years old?

September 10, 2020

Source: National Survey of Family Growth

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr146-508.pdf

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QuickStats: Prevalence of Past or Present Infection with Hepatitis B Virus Among Adults Aged 18 Years or Older, by Race and Hispanic Origin — National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1999–2018

September 4, 2020

The prevalence of past or present infection with hepatitis B virus among adults aged 18 years or older declined from 5.7% in 1999–2002 to 4.3% in 2015–2018.

A decline among non-Hispanic White (3.5% to 2.1%), non-Hispanic Black (15.6% to 10.8%), and Mexican American (3.5% to 1.8%) adults also occurred over the same period.

Prevalence was higher among non-Hispanic Black adults than among both non-Hispanic White and Mexican American adults for all periods.

Sources: Kruszon-Moran D, Paulose-Ram R, Martin CB, Barker L, McQuillan G. Prevalence and trends in hepatitis B virus infection in the United States, 2015–2018. NCHS Data Brief, no 361. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db361.htm; National Center for Health Statistics, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1999–2002 to 2015-2018. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/index.htm.

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6935a8.htm

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Antidepressant Use in America

September 4, 2020

Antidepressant use – and abuse – has become a prominent medical and public health issue in the United States, as more and more data become available on the scope of mental illness among Americans.  During the first half of 2019, nearly one in 20 adults in the United States reported having regular feelings of depression, according to NCHS data¹.  Depression is mentioned at nearly one in 10 visits to doctors offices² in the United States, and the percentage of adults who received a benzodiazepine prescription at these visits increased from 4.1% in 1996 to 5.6% in 2013³.  In addition, the number of office visits by patients with one or more benzodiazepine prescriptions more than doubled between 2003 and 2015³.

At the same time, misuse and abuse of these medications has taken a severe toll on American society.  The number of overdose deaths in the United States from psychostimulants with abuse potential, which include antidepressants like benzodiazepine, have increased dramatically over a two decade span, from 547 deaths in 1999 to 12,676 deaths in 2018, the last year final data are available for the country⁴. Provisional data for the one-year period ending in January 2020 show the annual tally has increased to 16,854 deaths⁵.

On September 4, NCHS released a new analysis using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) showing that antidepressant use among American women has increased during the past decade, from 2009-2010 to 2015-2018⁶.  Women are more than twice as likely as men to use antidepressants – 17.7% of adult women vs. 8.4% of men.  Nearly one in four women age 60 and over are using antidepressants according to the study – the highest percentage of any group. 

The new report also shows that non-Hispanic white adults are more than twice as likely to use antidepressants than Hispanic, non-Hispanic Black or Asian adults.  This analysis is another important piece of the research puzzle using data that will help guide both the medical and public health community moving forward.

 ¹ Early Release of Estimates Based on Data from the January-June 2019 National Health Interview Survey.

² National Ambulatory Health Care Survey, 2016, Table 18.

³ Physician Office Visits at Which Benzodiazepines Were Prescribed: Findings From 2014–2016 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey

⁴ Drug Overdose Deaths in the United States, 1999-2018

⁵ Provisional Data, National Vital Statistics System, February 1, 2019-January 31, 2020

⁶  Antidepressant Use Among Adults: United States, 2015-2018

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Nonalcoholic Beverage Consumption Among Adults: United States, 2015–2018

September 3, 2020

Questions for Crescent Martin, Health Statistician and Lead Author of “Nonalcoholic Beverage Consumption Among Adults: United States, 2015–2018.”

Q: Why did you decide to look at non-alcoholic beverage consumption for this report?

CM: Beverages help meet total water intake needs, and also are a major contributor to overall nutrient and caloric intake in the United States.

A previous analysis had looked at beverage consumption among youth (2013-2016), decided to conduct a similar analysis for adults.

Q: Was there a specific finding in the data that surprised you from this report?

CM: Water contributed substantially more to total non-alcoholic beverages consumption in grams, compared to other beverages.

Men consumed a lower percentage of their total beverages as water and tea, compared to women.

The contribution of coffee to total beverage consumption increased with age

Q: How did the data vary by different beverage types to total non-alcoholic beverage consumption among adults?

CM: By sex: Men consumed a lower percentage of their total beverages as water and tea, compared to women.

Men consumed a higher percentage of their total beverage intake as: coffee, sweetened beverages, fruit beverages, compared to women.

By age: The contributions of several beverages to total beverage consumption decreased with age: water, sweetened beverages, fruit beverages.

Others increased with age: coffee, tea, milk, diet beverages

By race and Hispanic origin:

For non-Hispanic Asian adults: water and tea contributed a higher percentage, sweetened beverages a lower percentage compared to other groups

For non-Hispanic white adults: coffee and diet beverages both contributed a higher percentage than for other groups

For non-Hispanic black and Hispanic adults: sweetened beverages were higher than for NH Asian and NH white adults

For Non-Hispanic black adults: fruit beverages higher than for other groups

Q: What is the take home message for this report?

CM: Water accounted for over half (51.2%) of total non-alcoholic beverage consumption on a given day for US adults in 2015–2018.

Next highest: coffee (14.9%); Sweetened beverages (10.2%); Tea (8.7%)

Q: Does NHANES or NCHS have any data on alcoholic beverage consumption?

CM: An NHANES report from 2012: Calories Consumed From Alcoholic Beverages by U.S. Adults, 2007–2010. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db110.htm

Main findings – Men and younger adults consume more calories from alcoholic beverages. And men consume more beer than other types of alcohol.

Alcohol use (not calories) is also reported using the National Health Interview Survey

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