At a glance
- The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) provides information on substance use and mental health issues.
- Learn more about NSDUH data available through the Research Data Center.
Overview
National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) data provides information on substance use and mental health issues at the national, state, and sub-state levels. NSDUH data also helps to identify the extent of substance use and mental health issues among different sub-groups, can be used to estimate trends over time, and measures the need for treatment services.
NSDUH restricted-use codebook for all available years are available on the SAMHSA RDC website under "Resources for preparing your application."
Location of Access
Non-US citizens should contact the NCHS RDC, rdca@cdc.gov, to inquire about additional access requirements.
Proposal
Application via SAP Portal
The application process for requesting access to SAMHSA RDC data is evolving. The Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 calls for the federal government to establish a standard application process (SAP) through which agencies, the Congressional Budget Office, State, local, and Tribal governments, researchers, and other individuals, as appropriate, may apply for access to confidential microdata. In response, the federal statistical system is developing the SAP Portal at www.ResearchDataGov.org. The SAP Portal is a web-based data catalog and common application that will serve as a "front door" to apply for restricted data from any of the 16 principal federal statistical agencies and units for evidence building purposes.
Keep in mind that output requests will NOT be affected by the SAP and should be requested directly through RDCA@samhsa.hhs.gov. Also, amendments and revisions of applications need to be sent to RDCA@samhsa.hhs.gov.
Additional notes
Whenever there is an official notice that the SAP system is not working properly, data users may create and submit applications in the conventional way (see above). Applications approved prior to the SAP implementation will continue to submit documentation (e.g., updated variable selection list, amendments) via RDCA@samhsa.hhs.gov.
To learn more about the SAP, please visit the Standard Application Process Overview webpage.
Confidentiality and disclosure
After the proposal is approved, all members of the research team are required to complete the Confidentiality orientation and other confidentiality requirements.
For more information, see the SAMHSA RDC Security Protocol and Section 5.2, "From Proposal Approval to RUF Data Access," in Guidelines for SAMHSA RDC Data Users found on the SAMHSA RDC webpage.
- Confidentiality orientation
- FSRDC: FSRDC users, mainly programmers, must apply for Special Sworn Status (SSS). The SSS application process does not begin until after proposal approval. Contact FSRDC for more information.
Output review for disclosures
All output submitted for review should be the near final product. SAMHSA RDC will not review frequency distributions or other large volumes of output. When preparing your output for review, make sure the following rules are applied before you submit your output for review:
- Include only weighted numbers in your output. Unweighted numbers will be considered on a case-by-case basis and must receive approval from SAMHSA RDC in order to be released.
Please see the Guidelines for SAMHSA RDC Data Users for a full list of requirements.
Follow these steps to request output review:
Step 1. Save output
Save the output to the appropriate folder.
At NCHS RDC locations title your output folder: DDMMMYY_RDCID_PI Last Name
- DMMMYY is your request date with a 3 or 4 letter abbreviation for the month
- RDCID is the research data center identification number
- PI Last Name will always be the researcher's last name
At FSRDC locations follow FSRDC disclosure request procedures.
Step 2. Email the SAMHSA RDC
Email SAMHSA RDC the folder name and brief description of the output. The NCHS RDC analyst or Census will transfer your file to SAMHSA RDC within five business days.
Step 3. SAMHSA review and approval
SAMHSA RDC will review and release approved output within three weeks of receipt.