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QuickStats: Percentage* of Persons Who Had a Cold in the Past 2 Weeks,† by Age Group and Calendar Quarter — National Health Interview Survey,§ United States, 2018
Weekly / April 10, 2020 / 69(14);429
* With 95% confidence intervals indicated by error bars.
† Based on the questions in the Sample Child and Sample Adult Interview that ask “Did [you/your child] have a head cold or chest cold that started during the last two weeks?”
§ Estimates are based on household interviews of a sample of the civilian, noninstitutionalized U.S. population and are derived from the National Health Interview Survey Sample Adult and Sample Child components.
In 2018, the percentage of persons of all ages who had a cold during the past 2 weeks was 16.6% in January–March, 8.5% in April–June, 7.0% in July–September, and 13.7% in October–December. Across all calendar quarters, colds were more common in younger persons than in older persons. A higher percentage of persons in each age group had colds in the past 2 weeks in January–March and October–December than had colds in April–June or July–September 2018.
Source: National Health Interview Survey, 2018 data. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis.htm.
Reported by: Sarah E. Lessem, PhD, slessem@cdc.gov, 301-458-4209; Johanna M. Alfier, MPH.
Suggested citation for this article: QuickStats: Percentage of Persons Who Had a Cold in the Past 2 Weeks, by Age Group and Calendar Quarter — National Health Interview Survey, United States, 2018. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2020;69:429. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6914a5.
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