The CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics tracks these cellphone use patterns. To find out why, NPR spoke with Stephen Blumberg, the National Center for Health Statistics’ associate director for science in the division of health interview statistics.
Here’s what he had to share.
1. The National Center for Health Statistics conducts many of its surveys via telephone. However, in 2003, researchers realized these surveys would overlook the growing proportion of Americans that didn’t have landlines.
2. The center decided it needed to identify what population had given up landline phones and what their health characteristics were. It used an in-person survey, called the National Health Interview Survey, to ask respondents about their telephone use.
3. The center found those with only cellphones had different health characteristics than their landline counterparts. Even after controlling for relevant demographic factors, the center found 29 percent of wireless-only adults are binge drinkers, compared to only 18 percent of adults with landlines.
4. In 2015 the National Center for Health Statistics still conducted the only federal survey to track cellphone and landline trends. The center continues to do so to ensure it includes proper proportions of wireless-only households in its telephone surveys.
More articles on population health:
7 ways payers use patient data
Can EHRs replace surveys for disease surveillance?
CDC: African-American death rate sees significant decrease, yet health disparities persist
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