Data for Prevention Research from the National Addiction & HIV Data Archive Program

Introduction. The National Addiction and HIV Data Archive Program (NAHDAP) makes available data for secondary analysis to support a range of research questions of interest to researchers and other interested in HIV and substance abuse questions. This poster will highlight secondary data collections for prevention research available from NAHDAP.

Background/Methods. Many NIH institutes, including the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), are putting major emphasis on and resources into promoting data sharing. Original investigators usually collect data from a wide array of instruments and measures. Many variables in these large datasets are under-analyzed by the original research team. NAHDAP provides access to free, well-documented, policy-relevant datasets for prevention research, many of which are longitudinal and several nationally representative. Prevention topics include alcohol, tobacco, and drug use; sexually transmitted diseases; pregnancy; and violence, injury, and bullying. Data subjects include adolescents, young adults, adults, and older adults; minority populations; general populations; and at-risk populations. NAHDAP also has procedures for minimizing disclosure risk in datasets to be shared and provides resources and technical assistance to investigators wanting to archive and share their data through NAHDAP.

Results. Currently, over 100 prevention-related datasets or data series are available on the NAHDAP Website. Users can search for variables using an online variable search, download a bibliography of publications related to the data, and perform online analysis on public-use datasets. Data where disclosure risk cannot be fully addressed are made available to users through a Restricted Data Use Agreement (RDUA).

Summary. NAHDAP has a wide range of data resources that can be used for secondary data analysis in the field of prevention research. The ongoing investment NIDA is making in data sharing through NAHDAP allows users to access high value secondary data sets and also enables NAHDAP to work closely with investigators who want to archive their data.