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QuickStats: Percentage* of Adults Aged 18–64 Years Who Had Seen or Talked to a Health Care Professional in the Past 12 Months,† by Race/Ethnicity§ — National Health Interview Survey, 2012–2013 and 2017–2018¶
Weekly / December 6, 2019 / 68(48);1124
* With 95% confidence intervals indicated by error bars.
† Based on a question in the Sample Adult section that asked “About how long has it been since you last saw or talked to a doctor or other health care professional about your own health? Include doctors seen while a patient in a hospital.”
§ Categories shown for non-Hispanic respondents are only for those who selected one racial group; respondents had the option to select more than one racial group. Hispanic respondents might be of any race or combination of races. Only selected groups are shown in the individual race/ethnicity bars, but total bar shows results for all adults aged 18–64 years.
¶ Estimates are based on household interviews of a sample of the civilian, noninstitutionalized U.S. population in 2012 and 2013 combined and 2017 and 2018 combined. Estimates are derived from the National Health Interview Survey Sample Adult component.
The percentage of adults aged 18–64 years who had seen or talked to a health care professional in the past 12 months increased from 79.3% in 2012–2013 to 82.1% in 2017–2018. There was an increase in the percentage of Hispanic (67.0% to 73.6%), non-Hispanic white (82.8% to 84.9%), non-Hispanic black (80.0% to 83.2%), and non-Hispanic Asian (75.8% to 78.8%) adults who had seen or talked to a health care professional in the past 12 months between those two periods. During 2012–2013 as well as 2017–2018, non-Hispanic white adults were the most likely and Hispanic adults were the least likely to have seen or talked to a health care professional in the past 12 months.
Source: National Health Interview Survey, 2012, 2013, 2017, and 2018 data. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis.htm.
Reported by: Michael E. Martinez, MPH, MHSA, bmd7@cdc.gov, 301-458-4758; Tainya C. Clarke, PhD.
Suggested citation for this article: QuickStats: Percentage of Adults Aged 18–64 Years Who Had Seen or Talked to a Health Care Professional in the Past 12 Months, by Race/Ethnicity — National Health Interview Survey, 2012–2013 and 2017–2018. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2019;68:1124. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6848a3.
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