Responses to Comments

Reply to American Optometric Association

Thank you for your letter requesting permanent inclusion of 2023 NHIS content on vision conditions. These questions are dependent on funding provided by the National Institutes of Health National Eye Institute (NEI). The current plan is for NEI to sponsor these questions on the NHIS again in 2026.

Reply to Whitman-Walker Institute

Thank you for your letter of support for sexual orientation and gender identity data on the NHIS. The NHIS includes a question on sexual orientation as part of its annual core on the survey every year. NCHS has been evaluating questions on gender identity starting with the 2022 NHIS and is continuing this evaluation to ensure that the survey accurately measures the gender identity of NHIS respondents. NCHS may consider research and testing of intersex questions along with others in the research community and based on the availability of funding for research.

Reply to Truth Initiative

Thank you for your letter regarding NHIS content on tobacco product use. The NHIS includes core content about tobacco use that is included on the survey every year or on a rotating schedule. Decisions were made to include this content during a recent redesign of the survey in 2019. One of the topics mentioned in your letter is about health care providers providing resources to help quit tobacco. Every other year, the NHIS includes the question “In the past 12 months, has a medical doctor, dentist, or other health professional ADVISED you to quit smoking or to quit using other kinds of tobacco?” that can be used to help understand whether these types of conversation are occurring with health care providers. The wording and format of the NHIS annual core question on frequency of e-cigarette use is consistent with how frequency of use of other tobacco products is measured on the survey.

In addition to core content, the NHIS frequently includes content that is sponsored by other agencies. For example, the Food and Drug Administration, National Cancer Institute, and CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion have all funded additional tobacco related content in the past. Content on oral nicotine pouch use, flavored product use, and heated tobacco product use would be dependent on funding.