PERRLA/Guides/APA 7/CDC webpage

How to Cite a CDC Webpage in APA 7

To cite a CDC webpage in APA 7, use Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as the group author, then the date the page was updated in parentheses, the page title in italics and sentence case, and the URL. Leave the site name out, because it matches the author. The first in-text citation spells out the name and defines the abbreviation, (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2026), and every later one uses (CDC, 2026).

The format

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Year, Month Day). Title of the page. https://www.cdc.gov/...

PERRLA APA Experts · Updated October 21, 2026
Checked against the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition. Every example is formatted by PERRLA's reference engine.

First, the easy way: PERRLA

Paste the CDC page's URL into PERRLA's reference search. PERRLA knows cdc.gov: it fills in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as the group author with CDC as the abbreviation, the page's date, and the title in sentence case, then handles the abbreviation in your paper for you, spelled out the first time and CDC after that. Pages from the National Center for Health Statistics come back with the center as the author and the CDC as the site. Paste an MMWR report's URL and PERRLA builds it as a journal article, because that's what MMWR is.

Give the date and title a quick check against the page before you save, especially on data pages that show only a review date. Adding one by hand? Choose Webpage, add a group author (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with CDC as the abbreviation), and fill in the date, the page title in sentence case, and the URL. PERRLA leaves out the site name when it matches the author.

Look up
Paste a URL, get the reference

https://www.cdc.gov/high-blood-pressure/data-research/facts-stats/index.html

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2026, June 2). High blood pressure facts. https://www.cdc.gov/high-blood-pressure/data-research/facts-stats/index.html

Not using PERRLA yet? Here is how to build the same reference by hand.

The parts of the reference

1. Author: the CDC, spelled out

The author of most CDC pages is the CDC itself, as a group author. Write the full name in the reference, never the abbreviation.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, but the CDC is the agency responsible for its pages, so it's the author, not HHS. Most CDC pages also name a center at the bottom under "Content Source." APA's own CDC example still uses the CDC as the author, and that's the right call for the CDC's regular topic pages. When a page sits in a center's own section of the site, like the National Center for Health Statistics pages under cdc.gov/nchs, name the center as the author and put the CDC where the site name goes.

2. Date: use Updated, never Reviewed

Scroll to the "About this page" box at the bottom. CDC pages list up to three dates there: Published, Updated, and Reviewed. Use the Updated date, which is also the date shown near the top of the page. No Updated date? Use the Published date.

(2026, June 2).

Ignore the Reviewed date. A review means experts checked the page, not that it changed. If a page shows only a "Last Reviewed" date, as many National Center for Health Statistics pages do, write (n.d.).

3. Page title

Use the headline at the top of the page, in italics and sentence case. CDC headlines are in title case on the page, so lowercase everything except the first word, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns.

High blood pressure facts.

For a page in Spanish or another language, give the title as the page prints it, then an English translation in square brackets, not italicized: Acerca de la septicemia [About sepsis].

4. Site name (usually left out)

When the CDC is the author, leave the site name out: it would repeat the author. When a CDC center is the author, the site name is the CDC.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

You don't need to add HHS. APA's CDC example leaves the parent department out. APA's example for another federal agency lists parent agencies after the title instead, so if your instructor asks for HHS, that's where it goes.

5. Retrieval date (data pages only)

A regular CDC topic page doesn't get a retrieval date. A statistics page that's overwritten when new numbers come out, like a FastStats page or a data dashboard, does, because the next reader may see different numbers than you did.

Retrieved October 21, 2026, from https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/nursing-home-care.htm

6. URL

End with the full URL of the exact page, with no period after it. Never cite the CDC home page for information that's on a specific page.

https://www.cdc.gov/high-blood-pressure/data-research/facts-stats/index.html

CDC pages move. If a link you saved no longer works, search the page title on cdc.gov for its current address, and cite the version you can link to.

Examples

A CDC page with the CDC as author

The CDC's High Blood Pressure Facts page, updated June 2, 2026. The CDC is the author and runs the site, so there's no site name. Its abbreviation is defined the first time you cite it.

  • Parenthetical citation(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2026)
  • Narrative citationCenters for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2026)
  • Later citations(CDC, 2026)

A National Center for Health Statistics data page

The FastStats page on nursing home care, from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), a center within the CDC. NCHS is the author and the CDC is the site. The page's only date is "Last Reviewed," so the date is n.d., and because its numbers are replaced when new data come out, it gets a retrieval date.

  • Parenthetical citation(National Center for Health Statistics, n.d.)
  • Narrative citationNational Center for Health Statistics (n.d.)

A CDC page in Spanish

The Spanish version of the CDC's page about sepsis, updated September 14, 2026. Useful when you're writing about patient education for Spanish-speaking families. The title stays in Spanish, with the English translation in square brackets.

  • Parenthetical citation(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2026)
  • Narrative citationCenters for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2026)
  • Later citations(CDC, 2026)

In-text citations

Cite a CDC page by the author and the year only, even though the reference has the full date.

  • First citation: spell out the name and add the abbreviation in square brackets: (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2026)
  • Every later citation: (CDC, 2026)
  • First mention in your sentence: put the abbreviation inside the parentheses with the year: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2026) reported...
  • A CDC center as author: (National Center for Health Statistics, n.d.)

Define CDC once in the whole paper, not once per reference. If you cite two CDC pages from the same year, add a lowercase letter after the year (2026a, 2026b), assigned in the order the titles fall on your references page.

Common mistakes

  • CDC. (2026, June 2).Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2026, June 2).Spell out a group author's name in the reference. The abbreviation belongs only in your in-text citations.
  • U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2026, June 2).Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2026, June 2).The CDC is the agency responsible for the page, so it's the author. HHS is the parent department, not the author.
  • National Center for Health Statistics. (2026, February 6).National Center for Health Statistics. (n.d.).February 6, 2026, is the FastStats page's "Last Reviewed" date. APA ignores review dates, so a page with only a review date has no date.
  • High blood pressure facts. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/high-blood-pressure/data-research/facts-stats/index.htmlHigh blood pressure facts. https://www.cdc.gov/high-blood-pressure/data-research/facts-stats/index.htmlWhen the CDC is the author, the site name would repeat it, so it comes out.
  • (CDC, 2026) the first time you cite the CDC(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2026)Your reader needs the full name once before the abbreviation can stand on its own.
  • An MMWR report cited as a CDC webpageAn MMWR report cited as a journal articleMorbidity and Mortality Weekly Report is a journal with volumes, issues, and page numbers, so it takes the journal article format, with its individual authors.

Quick checklist

  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as the author, spelled out
  • A CDC center as the author only when the page sits in that center's own section
  • The Updated date, or n.d. when the only date is Reviewed
  • Title in italics and sentence case, from the page's headline
  • No site name when the CDC is the author
  • A retrieval date only for data pages that change
  • (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2026) once, then (CDC, 2026)

Questions students ask

Is the author the CDC or the Department of Health and Human Services?

The CDC. APA names the most specific agency responsible for the page as the author, and for a CDC page that's the CDC, not its parent department. You don't need to add HHS to the reference.

Which date do I use on a CDC page?

The Updated date, which the CDC shows near the top of the page and in the "About this page" box at the bottom. With no Updated date, use the Published date. Skip the Reviewed date. If the page shows only a review date, use (n.d.).

Do I need a retrieval date for a CDC page?

Only for pages built to change, like FastStats pages, data dashboards, and surveillance updates that are overwritten each week. A regular topic page with an Updated date doesn't need one.

How do I cite an MMWR report?

As a journal article. MMWR has individual authors, a volume, an issue, and page numbers, and most reports have a DOI. The journal article guide shows the format.

Should I abbreviate CDC in my paper?

You can, and most nursing and health papers do, since the CDC tends to come up several times. Spell out the name with the abbreviation the first time, then use CDC for the rest of the paper. The reference always keeps the full name.

What about NIH, WHO, and other health agencies?

The same idea applies: the agency or institute is the group author. Our post on how to cite the CDC, NIH, and other government health sources covers NIH institutes, MedlinePlus, CMS, and the WHO.

Rules checked against the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.), Sections 8.21, 9.7, 9.11, 9.14–9.17, 9.19, 9.34–9.36, 9.38, and 10.16, and the APA Style website's webpage and group author guidance. Example sources verified on each CDC page itself, including the dates in each page's "About this page" box.

PERRLA builds the CDC reference from its URL, with the group author, the right date, and the abbreviation handled in every citation.

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