Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Children: National Health Interview Survey, 1999.

This report presents statistics from the 1999 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) on selected health measures for children under 18 years of age, classified by sex, age, race/ethnicity, family structure, parent education, family income, poverty status, health insurance coverage, place of residence, region, and current health status. The NHIS is an annual multistage probability sample survey conducted by interviewers of the Census Bureau and is representative of the civilian noninstitutionalized population of the United States. Information about one randomly selected child per family is collected in face-to-face interviews with an adult respondent familiar with the child's health. The topics covered are asthma, allergies, learning disability, attention deficit disorder, use of medication, respondent-assessed health status, school-loss days, usual place of medical care, time since last contact with a health care professional, selected health care risk factors, and time since last dental contact. Selected highlighted findings revealed that in 1999 most U.S. children under age 18 enjoyed excellent or very good health. Twelve percent of children had no health insurance coverage, with 6 percent having no usual place of medical care. Eleven percent had been diagnosed with asthma. An estimated 7 percent of children had a learning disability, and an estimated 6 percent had Attention Deficit Disorder. Nine percent of children in single-mother families had made two or more visits to an emergency room in the past year, compared with only 4 percent of children in two-parent families. The report's two appendices provide technical information on the methods used and hypothesis testing, and definitions of relevant terms. (Contains 30 references.) (Author/KB)