The National Health Survey Act, passed in 1956, provided the legislation authorizing for a survey to provide current statistical data on the amount, distribution, and effects of illness and disability in the United States. NHANES was created to fulfill the purpose of this act. The NHANES 99 for 2004 was the eighth in a series of national examination studies conducted in the United States since 1960, but effective in 2005, NHANES has become a continuous field survey with year-round data collection. To fulfill the purposes of this act, it was recognized that data collection would involve at least three sources: (1) direct interviews with Americans of all ages; (2) clinical tests, measurements, and physical examinations on sample persons; and (3) facilities where persons received medical care such as hospitals, clinics, and doctors' offices. To comply with the 1956 act, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), a branch of the U.S. Public Health Service in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has conducted seven separate examination surveys to collect interview and physical examination data. Beginning in 1970, a new emphasis was introduced. The study of nutrition and its relationship to health status gained importance as researchers began to discover links between dietary habits and disease. In response to this concern, under a directive from the Secretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, the National Nutrition Surveillance System was instituted by NCHS. The purpose of this system was to measure the nutritional status of the U.S. population and changes over time. A special task force recommended that a continuing surveillance system include clinical observation and professional assessment as well as the recording of dietary intake patterns. Thus, the National Nutrition Surveillance System was combined with the National Health Examination Survey to form the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). NHANES 2013, the current version of the survey, was designed to continue the collection of information about the health and diet of people in the United States. These data are used to fulfill specific goals. The overall goals of NHANES 2013 are to: Estimate the number and percent of persons in the U.S. population and designated subgroups with selected diseases and risk factors; Monitor trends in the prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of selected diseases; Monitor trends in risk behaviors and environmental exposures; Analyze risk factors for selected diseases; Study the relationship between diet, nutrition, and health; Explore emerging public health issues and new technologies; and Establish a national probability sample for the Asian population in the U.S.
