The 2001 National Health Survey CURF contains unidentified individual statistical records with information about 26,862 persons, including geographical information; household and income unit type; demographic, education and labour force characteristics; income and equivalent income; private health insurance coverage and coverage by health concession cards; long-term medical conditions experienced, with a focus on the National Health Priority Area conditions of diabetes, cancer, asthma and cardiovascular conditions; recent injuries; indicators of mental health and well-being; recent visits to hospitals and day clinics; consultations with doctors, dentists and other health professionals; days away from work or study due to illness; use of medications; smoking; alcohol consumption; exercise; dietary habits; self-assessed height and weight; adult and children's immunisation; sun protection behaviours; breastfeeding; and selected supplementary data on women's health issues including screening practices for breast and cervical cancer, hormone replacement therapy and contraception practices.
Two CURFs from the 2001 National Health Survey are available:
- BASIC — this CURF contains a basic set of data items at a reduced level of detail. It is available to access on CD-ROM or via the ABS Remote Access Data Laboratory (RADL).
- EXPANDED — this CURF contains an expanded set of data items at a more detailed level than the Basic CURF, and is accessible only through the RADL.
Principle differences between the Basic and Expanded CURFs are outlined below:
Demographic and other general characteristics
Additional items on the expanded file include family type, dwelling type, sources of income and type of pension/benefit received. Items shown in greater detail on the expanded file include age, marital status, country of birth, year of arrival in Australia, language spoken at home, level of highest qualifications and person and income unit income.
Geographic and related characteristics
Additional items on the expanded file are State/Territory, section of State and capital city/rest of State. The SEIFA index of economic resources of households has been included, and the index of relative socioeconomic disadvantage has been included at the decile level rather than quintiles as on the basic file.
Characteristics of the child proxy
A limited set is included on the basic file; the expanded file contains a full set of characteristics, similar in range and detail to that provided for survey respondents.
Health status indicators
On the expanded file, a more detailed range of medical conditions is identified, with further detail also provided for national health priority area condition items including status items and types of medications used.
Health related actions
On the expanded file, finer detail is provided for the number and length of hospital stays, and top-coding is removed from items relating to number of visits to doctors, dentists and other health professionals and hospital casualty, outpatients and day clinic visits.
Health risk factors
Additional items on the expanded file include body mass index scores and a range of children's immunisation status items. Top-coding has been removed from a range of items relating to alcohol consumption, duration of breastfeeding and duration of exercise.
Supplementary women's health topics
On the expanded file, finer detail is provided for frequency of breast examinations, age at hysterectomy, time using HRT, time breastfed and types of contraceptive practices.
For more information about the content of the CURFs see Information Paper: 2001 National Health Survey - Confidentialised Unit Record Files (cat. no. 4324.0) on the Health Theme page.
For more information on the 2001 National Health Survey see National Health Survey (2001) User's Guide (cat. no. 4363.0.55.001).
Users should also consult: National Health Survey: Users' Guide (cat. no. 4363.0.55.001).