How to Cite the CDC, NIH, and Other Government Health Sources in APA 7

Government health agencies publish some of the most authoritative research and data in the field, and nursing and health students cite them constantly. They also come with a set of APA questions that general citation guides skip past: the author is not always obvious, the URLs move, and the same agency publishes webpages, reports, data briefs, and fact sheets that each want a slightly different reference. This guide covers the sources you are most likely to cite, with an example for each.

One principle that covers all of them

Cite the type of document, not the place you found it. A CDC webpage is a webpage. An NIH report is a report. A WHO technical document is a report. The agency decides what goes in the author and publisher fields, but the kind of document decides the shape of the reference.

When a government source has you stuck, ask one question: how was this originally published? As a webpage, a report, a dataset, a journal article? Then use the format for that type and fill the agency in where the author goes.

Who is the author? The agency

This is where most students stall. Government health documents often list no individual author. In APA 7, the agency that published the document is the author, as a group author. Three rules keep it straight:

1. Use the most specific agency named. If a CDC division or an NIH institute published the document, the division or institute is the author.
2. Name the parent department as publisher when it differs from the author. The CDC sits inside the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, so HHS is the publisher. When the author and publisher would be the same name, leave the publisher out.
3. If no agency can be identified, move the title into the author position. This is rare for government sources; nearly every page names its agency somewhere.

When to include a retrieval date

APA 7 does not usually ask for a retrieval date. The exception is a source whose content is designed to change, so that the version you read may not be the version a reader finds later. Many government health pages are exactly that: statistics pages, fact sheets with current numbers, data dashboards.

If the page you are citing is likely to change, such as a CDC statistics page or a Healthy People data page, include a retrieval date. If the document is stable, such as a published report or a finalized guideline, leave it out. There is a longer post on retrieval dates if you want the full rule.

A note on government URLs

• Use the most direct URL to the page or document you cited, never the agency home page.
• If the URL has stopped working, search the document's title for a current address or a stable archived copy.
• For a PDF hosted on a government site, the PDF's own URL is fine.
• Leave out database names and database URLs. The direct government URL is enough.

How to cite CDC sources

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention publishes health topic pages, data and statistics pages, fact sheets, and reports. Nearly everything students cite from the CDC is one of two types: a webpage or a report.

CDC webpage or fact sheet

Use the date the page was last reviewed or updated. CDC pages print it near the bottom, labeled "Last Reviewed" or "Page last updated."

CDC report or data brief

A published report is stable, so no retrieval date. A data page that is refreshed each year gets one.

How to cite NIH sources

The National Institutes of Health is the parent of 27 institutes and centers, including the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. When one of them published the content, that institute is the author and NIH is the publisher.

NIH institute webpage

NIH report or publication

MedlinePlus

MedlinePlus is published by the National Library of Medicine, part of NIH, and its pages are revised often, so a retrieval date belongs.

How to cite CMS sources

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services publishes policy documents, program guidelines, and data reports that health policy and nursing administration students cite often. CMS uses an ampersand in its official name, so the reference does too.

CMS webpage

CMS report or data file

How to cite WHO sources

The World Health Organization is an international body rather than a U.S. agency, but nursing and global health papers lean on it constantly. WHO is its own publisher, so there is no separate publisher in the reference.

WHO webpage

WHO report

How to cite Healthy People 2030

Healthy People 2030 is the federal health-objectives initiative published by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, part of HHS. Its data pages are updated regularly, so they take a retrieval date. Stable overview and objective pages usually do not. Many objective pages carry no publication date at all, which is what "n.d." is for.

Healthy People 2030 objective page

The in-text citation for a group author

The first time you cite an agency with a well-known abbreviation, spell it out and introduce the abbreviation: (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2024). Every citation after that uses the abbreviation alone: (CDC, 2024). The reference list entry always uses the full name. If you only cite the agency once, skip the abbreviation.

Related posts

• How to cite a government report or dataset in APA 7
• When to include a retrieval date in APA 7
• APA 7 citations for nursing students: the sources you'll cite most
• APA 101: formatting a webpage reference

Questions students ask about citing health agencies