L8 Health information Flashcards
1
Q
Read
From Data to Information
Data
- Data are raw facts or observations (could be text, picture, sound, video) but have no value on their own
Information
- Data that have been processed so that they are meaningful
- Data that have been processed for a purpose
- Data that have been interpreted, communicated to and understood by the recipient
Knowledge
- Knowledge is what is gained in the longer term when the impact and relevance of the information is ascertained
A
2
Q
Read
Routine data
- Any routinely collected source (derived through on-going data systems) of information describing “any aspect of the health of a population”
- Not collected specifically to answer any particular question
- Usually collected for statutory or administrative purposes i.e. not collected for a specific purpose
- Often used for purposes other than that which it was collected
- Underused
- Routine health data collected in two main ways:
- Administrative
- Survey
A
3
Q
Read
Administrative data
- Legal documents: birth and death registrations, notifications of infectious diseases, census data
- Social services: sickness absence
- Health service contacts: GP consultations, hospital admissions (HES data)
A
4
Q
Read
Data from surveys
- Cross-sectional surveys (prevalence) studies
- Longitudinal (incidence) surveys
A
5
Q
Read
General Lifestyle Survey (GLS)
- Annual cross-sectional survey since 1971 (different individuals)
- ‘presents a picture of households, families and people living in Great Britain and collects information on housing, consumer durables, families, pensions, health, use of health services, income, smoking and drinking. This information is used by government departments, academics, industry, charities and the general public’
- For example, monitoring smoking prevalence, research undertaken by academics around impact of socio-economic inequalities on health
A
6
Q
Read
Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) (Survey)
- Longitudinal follow up of 19,000 babies born 2000-2001 (same individuals)
- So far 5 surveys – 9 months, 3, 5, 7 and 11 years (14 years underway)
- Plan to follow up into adulthood
- Collects information on siblings and parents.
- Includes information on parenting; childcare; school choice; child behaviour and cognitive development; child and parental health; parents’ employment and education; income and poverty; housing, neighbourhood and residential mobility; and social capital and ethnicity
A
7
Q
List the advantages of routine data. (7)
A
- Easily accessible, (e.g. published by ONS)
- Regularly updated
- Inexpensive
- Data on large numbers of individuals
- Provide valid information
- Some degree of standardisation over time and between different countries
- Proxy measures of health, disease incidence and prevalence…
8
Q
List the disadvantages of routine data. (6)
A
- Temptation to use them regardless of:
- completeness
- accuracy
- relevance/representativeness
- timeliness
- Relatively inflexible
- Differing age breakdowns
9
Q
Read
Registers
- A collection of data about patients with a specific condition – can be relatively small (e.g. within a hospital) or national/international
- Registers contribute significantly to medical knowledge and both improved healthcare and reduction in disease risk in the UK and elsewhere
- Estimated >400 disease specific registers in existence in England (Newton & Garner, 2002)
- Wide heterogeneity in registers (size, quality, purpose, topic, cost, funding source, etc.)
- Cancer registries are the exception - now a national framework and regional structure to support it (12 registries across the UK)
- Emerging national structure for congenital anomalies registers
Main Uses
- Patient care
- Regular review and recall
- Structured care programmes
- Monitoring high risk groups
- Managing demand and regulating access
- Risk stratification
- Public health
- Surveillance
- Planning healthcare provision
- Monitoring health burden and impact of interventions
- Research - epidemiology
- Descriptive studies
- Hypothesis testing
A
10
Q
What is the advantage of registers?
A
Detailed, longitudinal information; patient identifiers (can link datasets).
11
Q
What is the disadvantage of registers?
A
Require substantial resources (financial and staff); confidentiality; completeness; accuracy.
12
Q
Read
National Health Service Central Register (NHSCR)
- Established as part of wartime census (i.e. just before the NHS). Now part of NHSIC
- Details of every person registered with the NHS (i.e. all people with an NHS number) – computerised record for Department of Health
- Can use to get mortality and cancer details, as well as details of the individual’s GP and current status (e.g. still resident in UK)
- Flagging Studies
A
13
Q
Read
Newcastle Thousand Families Study
- All births in May and June 1947 included
- Long-term follow up enabled by flagging cohort at NHSCR
- Mortality data
- Possible cancer data
- Embarkation data
- PCT to GP link for contacting lost participants
A
14
Q
Read
Registration of births and deaths
- Required by law Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953
- ‘Qualified informant’ – usually a relative
- Organised by Office for National Statistics (ONS)
- Local Registrar of births and deaths
- Doctor or coroner issues death certificate for registration
- Birth
- Public access to date of birth, name, district of registration, fathers’ occupations - Limited (often aggregate only) access to maternal age, parity, postcode at birth
* Death - Names, dates and causes of death - ICD coding of death causes
A
15
Q
What are the uses of mortality statistics? (5)
A
- Analyses by age, sex, marital status, occupation, social class (i.e. person)
- Analyses of mortality over time & place
- Hypothesis generation
- Hypothesis testing
- Monitoring/surveillance of public health
