National Survey of Children's Health-Longitudinal Cohort (NSCH-LC)

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What is the NSCH-LC?

The NSCH-LC is a follow-up study to the annual National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH), which collects information about the health and well-being of children and young adults in the United States. The NSCH-LC followed up with households that responded to either the 2018 or the 2019 NSCH to learn about health outcomes and related experiences of children and their families since they first responded. 

HRSA MCHB funded and directed the NSCH-LC. The U.S. Census Bureau conducted the follow-up study. Households that participated in the 2018 and 2019 NSCH were located again beginning in December 2023, and the data were collected from January through June 2024.

Get more information from the U.S. Census Bureau NSCH-LC webpage.

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This flow diagram summarizes participant progression from the 2018 and 2019 National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH) to the 2024 National Survey of Children's Health Longitudinal Cohort (NSCH-LC). 

Approximately 71,000 households completed the 2018 NSCH screener survey and approximately 69,000 households completed the 2019 screener survey. Of those, 38,140 households with children were identified in 2018 and 36,196 households in 2019. 

Completed topical surveys were obtained for 30,530 children in 2018 (43% response rate) and 29,433 children in 2019 (42% response rate).

Children selected from the 2018 and 2019 NSCH were recontacted for the longitudinal follow-up. In 2024, 21,768 children and young adults completed the NSCH-LC follow-up topical survey, representing a 43% response rate.

Note: Households with selected children from the 2018 – 2019 NSCH were confirmed in 2023, and NSCH-LC data were collected in 2024.

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This timeline illustrates the progression of participants in the National Survey of Children's Health Longitudinal Cohort (NSCH-LC). The top ribbon depicts developmental stages from infancy through young adulthood using silhouettes and four color-coded age groups: ages 0 – 5, 6 – 11, 12 – 17, and 18 – 23 years. 

The middle ribbons show that children who were ages 0 – 17 during the 2018 and 2019 National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH) were between ages 4 and 23 when they participated in the 2024 NSCH-LC follow-up survey. The bottom timeline illustrates the sequence of the study: participation in the 2018 – 2019 NSCH, a follow-up period of approximately 4 – 6 years, and participation in the 2024 NSCH-LC. 

The figure conveys that the longitudinal cohort follows the same children over time, allowing researchers to examine changes in health and well-being from childhood into adolescence and young adulthood.

Survey resources

Explore resources to help you understand, access, and use data from the National Survey of Children's Health-Longitudinal Cohort (NSCH-LC). Resources include questionnaires, documentation, variable lists, methodology reports, and related materials to support data. 

  • NSCH-LC content crosswalk

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    Compare content collected across the NSCH-LC questionnaires to identify where specific topics and measures are available for analysis.

  • NSCH-LC data files

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    Access the publicly available NSCH-LC data files through the U.S. Census Bureau.

    Resources to help you understand, prepare, and analyze the data are available in the data guidance and tools section.

Contact us

Need more information, or have a specific question? Contact us at NSCH@hrsa.gov.

 

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