Understanding and Interpreting the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: Key Questions and Answers

摘要: SEE EDITORIAL, P. 722. Editor’s Note: The National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS) is widely used for medical research. Nearly 500 articles have been published based on this database, including 28 in Annals of Emergency Medicine. NHAMCS a national probability sample survey visits to emergency and outpatient departments nonfederal, general, short-stay hospitals, conducted by the Centers Disease Control Prevention, Center Health Statistics (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/ahcd.htm). Strengths are its rigorous methodology, nationally representative nature, large size, wide array variables, capacity examine long-term trends. Investigators can freely download database test locally developed hypotheses. Challenges with that, given logistic statistical complexity, resulting research be difficult readers interpret editors reviewers critique. There important limitations caveats if overlooked, could lead misleading or inaccurate conclusions. In article, we posed series questions 2 statisticians, believe that their answers will invaluable both investigators