Abstract
Background/Aims The VDW Census file contains information about our members such as income and education. The information is estimated based on data collected by the decennial census for the geographic areas around our members’ addresses (identified by geocodes).The VDW Census file was initially developed based on 2000 census data. Data from the 2010 census is now being released, and in many cases, the 2010 census data structure looks different than the 2000 census. For example, income and education were no longer collected in the 2010 census, but have been moved to a supplementary survey (American Community Survey, or ACS) collected over a different time period.
Methods The VDW Census workgroup reviewed the changes in the 2010 census data and compared the available information to the data in the existing VDW Census file. Many of the fields from the ‘long-form’ in the 2000 census were moved to the ACS. Where possible, the workgroup mapped the existing VDW Census fields to fields with similar, if not equivalent, data in the new census data structure. The workgroup also considered whether new data available from the ACS might be of interest to HMORN investigators. Where major changes in information availability were anticipated, the workgroup used online surveys to solicit feedback from a larger group of HMORN analysts and investigators.
Results Our primary goal was to identify changes to the specification that would allow updating the Census file to 2010 data. Our secondary goal was to identify that would allow sites to maintain multiple sets of census data to accommodate projects with different time periods. To accommodate multiple years of census data and reduce file sizes, we recommend splitting the VDW Census file into two files: one tracking members’ geocoded addresses, and another containing the census data for all available geocodes.
Conclusions We found significant changes in the 2010 census data that require considerable changes to the VDW Census file. Once agreement has been reached on the new Census specification, a subcommittee will develop code to build a new VDW Census data file and recommendations on building a file containing members’ geocodes over time.
