[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 230 (Wednesday, November 27, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60288-60289]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-30270]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
[30 DAY-23]


Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork Reduction Act Review

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) publishes a 
list of information collection requests under review by the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) in compliance with the Paperwork Reduction 
Act (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). To request a copy of these requests, call 
the CDC Reports Clearance Office on (404) 639-7090. Send written 
comments to CDC, Desk Officer; Human Resources and Housing Branch, New 
Executive Office Building, Room 10235; Washington, DC 20503. Written 
comments should be received within 30 days of this notice.
    The following requests have been submitted for review since the 
last publication date on November 6, 1996.

Proposed Projects

    1. Studies of Adverse Reproductive Outcomes in Female Occupational 
Groups--(0920-0367)--Revised--An estimated 50,000 to 60,000 chemicals 
are in common use throughout society today and hundreds of new 
chemicals are introduced each year. Yet the list of environmental 
chemicals and agents that have been investigated to determine whether 
they have adverse effects on reproductive health is still limited. With 
the growing number of women in the work force, it is becoming 
increasingly important to evaluate the potential female reproductive 
health effects of occupational and physical agents.
    In this program, NIOSH is planning to undertake a series of five 
studies to focus on potential reproductive effects of chemical and 
physical agents in the workplace. In the studies planned under this 
program, the reproductive health of a group of female workers exposed 
to the agent of interest, will be compared to the reproductive health 
of a group of working women with no occupational exposure to known or 
suspected reproductive toxicants.
    For all studies, data from company personnel records containing 
demographic, and work history information will be used to estimate 
workplace exposures. Each woman will be asked to complete a telephone 
questionnaire on reproductive history and other factors (such as 
cigarette smoking) that may influence reproductive function. Each 
questionnaire will take approximately 60 minutes to complete. Medical 
records will be requested to confirm adverse reproductive outcomes 
reported by the participants. The risk of adverse reproductive outcomes 
between the two groups of women will then be compared.
    The first study to be conducted under this program will be a study 
of reproductive disorders among female flight attendants. Approximately 
66,000 flight attendants are currently employed by U.S. commercial 
airlines and are potentially exposed to ionizing radiation and 
disruption of circadian rhythms, two exposures that may adversely 
affect reproductive function. The other studies to be conducted under 
this program have not yet been determined. The total annual burden is 
6,800.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                 Average
                                                     Number of   burden/
             Respondents                Number of   responses/  response
                                       respondents  respondent     (in  
                                                                  hrs.) 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Workers..............................       6,200           1          1
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    2. National Hospital Discharge Survey--(0920-0212)--Extension. The 
National Hospital Discharge Survey (NHDS), which has been conducted 
continuously by the National Center for Health Statistics, CDC, since 
1965, is the principal source of data on inpatient utilization of 
short-stay, non-Federal hospitals and is the only annual source of 
nationally representative estimates on the characteristics of 
discharges, the lengths of stay, diagnoses, surgical and non-surgical 
procedures, and the patterns of use of care in hospitals in various 
regions of the country. It is the benchmark against which special 
programmatic data sources are compared. Data collected through the NHDS 
are essential for evaluating health status of the population, for the 
planning of programs and policy to elevate the health status of the 
Nation, for studying morbidity trends, and for research activities in 
the health field. NHDS data have been used extensively in the 
production of goals for the Year 2000 Health Objectives and the 
subsequent monitoring of these goals. In addition, NHDS data provide 
annual updates for numerous tables in the Congressionally-mandated NCHS 
report, Health, United States. Data for the NHDS are collected annually 
on approximately 275,000 discharges from a nationally representative 
sample of noninstitutional hospitals, exclusive of Federal, military 
and Veterans' Administration hospitals. The data items collected are 
the basic core of variables contained in the Uniform Hospital Discharge 
Data Set (UHDDS). Data for approximately half of the responding 
hospitals are abstracted from medical records while the remainder of 
the hospitals supply data through commercial abstract service 
organizations, state data systems, in-house tapes or printouts. There 
is no actual cost to respondents since hospital staff who actively 
participate in the data collection effort are compensated by the 
government for their time. The total annual burden is 2,513.
      

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               Average  
                                    Number of    Number of     burden/  
           Respondents             respondents   responses/    response 
                                                 respondent   (in hrs.) 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Medical Record Abstracts Primary                                        
 Procedure Hospitals.............           77          250       0.0833
Alternate Procedure Hospitals....          134          250      0.01666
In-House Tape or Printout                                               
 Hospitals.......................          103           12      0.18333
Update Form (Abstract Service                                           
 Hospitals)......................          164            2       0.0333
Quality Control Forms............           50           40       0.1666
Induction Forms..................           40            1            2
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[[Page 60289]]

    Dated November 20, 1996.
Wilma G. Johnson,
Acting Associate Director for Policy, Planning And Evaluation, Centers 
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
[FR Doc. 96-30270 Filed 11-26-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P