Understanding liver health using the National Center for Health Statistics.

The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) is the principal health statistics agency for the United States. It seeks to provide accurate, relevant, and timely data on health status and utilization of health care. As such, the NCHS represents a tremendous repository of behavioral, biological, and clinical data that can be employed to identify issues and effect change in public policy related to liver health and disease. By providing an understanding of the rich, publicly available data systems within the NCHS, investigators may capitalize on an efficient means to shape current knowledge of liver disease.