CONTENTS OF National Hospital Discharge Survey (NHDS) RESTRICTED FILES, 1988-present

VARIABLE NAME DESCRIPTION and VALUES NOTE
SUR_YR 4-digit designation for calendar year of data collection
AGE Age in Years, Months, or Days
If years: 001 – 125
If months: 01-11
If days: 01-28
UNITS Units for Age
1 = Years
2 = Months
3 = Days
CENTURY First 2 digits of year of birth of discharged patient
(e.g. 19 for 1900’s)
not edited
DOB Date of birth of discharged patient (MMDDYY) not edited
SEX Sex
1 = Male
2 = Female
RACE Race of Patient
Coding used in 2000-2006 Coding used in 1988-1999
1 = White 1 = White
2 = Black or African American 2 = Black
3 = American Indian/Alaskan Native 3 = American Indian/Alaskan Native
4 = Asian 4 = Asian/Pacific Islander
5 = Native Hawaiian/Oth Pacific Islder 5 = Other
6 = Other race 6 = Not Stated
7 = Race not stated
8 = Mulitple race indicated
MARSTAT Marital Status
1 = Married
2 = Single
3 = Widowed
4 = Divorced
5 = Separated
6 = Not Stated
7 = Unknown
DOA Date of Admission (MMDDY) not edited
Month of Admission (01-12)
Day of Admission (01-31)
Year of Admission (last digit)
DOD Date of Discharge (MMDDY) not edited
Month of Discharge (01-12)
Day of Discharge (01-31)
Year of Discharge (last digit)
DISCSTAT Discharge Status
1 = Routine to Home
2 = Left Against Medical Advice
3 = Transf. to Short-Term Facility
4 = Transf. to Long-Term Facility(MMDDY)
5 = Alive, Not Stated
6 = Dead
7 = Status Not Stated
AGER4 Age Recode, 4 Groups
1 = Under 15
2 = 15-44
3 = 45-64
4 = 65 & up
NUMDXS Number of Diagnosis Codes (1 to 7)
NUMPDS Number of Procedure Codes (0 to 4)
AGER10 Age Recode, 10 groups
00 = Newborn Infant
01 = Under 1 year
02 = 1-4 years
03 = 5-14 years
04 = 15-24 years
05 = 25-34 years
06 = 35-44 years
07 = 45-54 years
08 = 55-64 years
09 = 65-74 years
10 = 75 years and older
REGION Geographic Region
1 = Northeast
2 = Midwest
3 = South
4 = West
BEDSIZE7 Number of Beds Recode (Interview)
1 = 6-49 beds
2 = 50-99 beds
3 = 100-199 beds
4 = 200-299 beds
5 = 300-499 beds
6 = 500-999 beds
7 = 1000 or more beds
OWNER4 Hospital Ownership (Interview)
1 = Proprietary
2 = Church
3 = Government
4 = Nonprofit, excluding Church
DOC Days of Care (LOS w/ ones) Use to produce days of care estimates.
Stays of less than one day have been recoded to 1 day stays.
ADMTYPE Type of Admission not available before 2001
1 = Emergency
2 = Urgent
3 = Elective
4 = Newborn
5 = Not available
ASOURCE Source of Admission not available before 2001
1 = Physician referral
2 = Clinical referral
3 = HMO referral
4 = Transfer from a hospital
5 = Transfer from SNF
6 = Transfer from other health facility
7 = Emergency room
8 = Court/Law enforcement
9 = Other
0 = Not available
WEIGHT Analysis Weight
Final Adjusted Weight
ZIPCODE Postal Service ZIPCODE for Patient’s Residence
ESOP1 Expected Source of Pymt,
Principal Coding used 1998-2006
Coding used 1988-1987
01 = Worker’s Compensation 1 = Worker’s Compensation
02 = Medicare 2 = Medicare
03 = Medicaid 3 = Medicaid
04 = Other Government Payments 4 = Payment not stated
05 = Blue Cross/Blue Shiled 5 = Other Government Payments
06 = HMO/PPO 6 = Blue Cross/Blue Shield
07 = Other Private/Comm Insurance 7 = Other Private/Comm Insurance
08 = Self Pay 8 = Self Pay
09 = No Charge 9 = No Charge
10 = Other 0 = Other
99 = Not Stated
ESOP2 Expected Source of Pymt, Secondary
same coding as Principal ESOP
DOP1 Date of Procedure #1 (MMDDY) not edited
Month of Procedure #1 (01-12)
Day of Procedure #1 (01-31)
Year of Procedure #1 (last digit)
DOP2 Date of Procedure #2 (MMDDY)
same coding as DOP1
not edited
DOP3 Date of Procedure #3 (MMDDY)
same coding as DOP1
not edited
DOP4 Date of Procedure #4 (MMDDY)
same coding as DOP1
not edited
DX1
DX2
DX3
DX4
ICD9-CM Diagnosis Code #1
ICD9-CM Diagnosis Code #2
ICD9-CM Diagnosis Code #3
ICD9-CM Diagnosis Code #4
Diagnoses are coded to the ICD-9-CM.
They have CHARACTER format.
5-digit codes have an implied decimal
point between the 3rd and 4th digit.
DX5 ICD9-CM Diagnosis Code #5 From 1979-1995, V codes are identified with
an equals [ = ] sign in the first position, instead of V
DX6
DX7
ICD9-CM Diagnosis Code #6
ICD9-CM Diagnosis Code #7
From 1979-1995, E codes are identified with
a left parenthesis [ ) ] in the first position, instead of E
PD1
PD2
PD3
PD4
ICD9-CM Procedure Code #1
ICD9-CM Procedure Code #2
ICD9-CM Procedure Code #3
ICD9-CM Procedure Code #4
Procedures are coded to the ICD-9-CM.
They have CHARACTER format.
4-digit codes have an implied decimal
point between the 2rd and 3th digit.
POP2DIS Population Count of Discharges w/in Hospital
VSTRATA Stratum Identifier First digit of STRATA is TYPE, i.e. 1, 2, or 3;
All 3 digits MUST be used in SUDAAN.
SUDOPSU Pseudo PSU Identifer
HOSPITAL Hospital Identifier (NUMERIC)
POPSPSU Population Count in PseudoPSU
POPHOS Population Count of Hospitals w/in PSU