Lecture 13 - The Role Of Data In Public Health Flashcards
Public health agents ____ the _____ of a community by “____” health data
public health agents MONITOR the HEALTH of a community by “DIAGNOSING” health data
this “health data” is called….
health statistics
Health statistics are a vital part of Public Health’s ____ function and are used to do what 5 things?
ASSESSMENT FUNCTION
- identify special risk groups
- detect new health threats
- plan public health programs
- evaluate their success
- prepare goveernment budgets
the health statistics are collected by ____, ____, and ___ _____
federal, state, and local governments
health statistics are the ___ ___ for research, epidemiology, environmental health, social and behavioral factors in health, and the medical care system
RAW DATA
At the federal level, what is the primary agency that collects, analyzes, and reports data on the health of americans?
the NATIONAL CENTER FOR HEALTH STATISTICS
the national center for health statistics is a division of…..
the centers for disease and control prevention (the cdc)
the NCHS collects its data in 2 major ways:
- from the states (vital stats including all births and deaths)
- NCHS conducts periodic surveys of representative samples of the population
questionairres related to:
-health status
-lifestyle
-behaviors that may impact public health
what data is the most basic, reliable, and complete?
births and death
what is the term for a “more detailed” birth certificate
birth record
what could account for the incline of twin birth rate?
fertility drugs
why does preterm birth rate increase with twin birth rate?
twin births are more likely to result in preterms
information on death certificates is subject to a number of ___ and can be _____
uncertainties and can be incomplete
give an example of why it can be said that death certificates are subject to a number of uncertainties
if the person smoked and the cause of death is not obvious - the coroner may simply put “death due to complications of smoking” which is more of an assumption
(also if the deceased is an elderly person with no surviving relatives little information on the patient can be known)
give an example of why it can be said that death certificates are subject to a number of uncertainties
if the person smoked and the cause of death is not obvious - the coroner may simply put “death due to complications of smoking” which is more of an assumption
give some cases in which the cause of death may be misstated due to social stigma
AIDS, suicide
What are some other vital statistics other than births and deaths?
marriages and divorces, fetal deaths and abortions
What are 2 things that are legal events that require universal reporting, but are not very interesting from a public health point of view?
marriages and divorces
the NCHS has set up a special computer system for linking vital records of…..
infants born during a given year who died before their first birthday
The data collected through the vital statistics system must be converted to rates if they are to be useful for public health purposes. how could this be done?
census
What Bureau collects information on the race, sex, etc of the population?
the United States Census Bureau which is a part of the US dept of commerce
Census Bureau is essential for the practice of public health to determine…..
adjusted and crude rates
the census of 2010 had 2 controversial issues it needed to address:
how a person’s race is determined (people identify their own race and ethnic category)
-an interracial category was added
some people are missed or counted twice
-typically lower income and illegals are overrepresented in the group of individuals that do not report
how do we account for homeless or fugitives of the law?
birth and death rates for african americans tend to be ___ than their true value
higher. this is a CONFOUNDING VARIABLE that needs to be accounted for
explain the role of politics in the census
some political interests benefit from an undercount of the poor
-electoral votes
Pedigrees are used to…..
track genetic contribution to a disease
