LECTURE 8 (The role of data in public health) Flashcards
What is the role of Public health workers?
To monitor the health of a community by collecting and analysing health data called “health statistics”
What is the function of Health statistics?
- To identify special risk groups
- To detect new health threats
- To plan public health programs and evaluate their success
- To prepare government budgets
What do the statistics collected by the government serve as?
Raw material for research on epidemiology, environmental health, social and behavioural factors in health and for the medical care system
What are the most basic, reliable and complete data collected?
Births and Deaths
What is the state health department generally responsible for?
Collecting these reports and transmitting them periodically to the NCHS (National Center for Health Statistics)
At the federal level, what does the NCHS (National Center for Health Statistics) do?
Collects, analyses and reports data on the health of Americans
What is the difference between Birth certificates and Medical and health information?
Birth certificates = contain information supplied by the mother about the child’s family
Medical and health information = supplied by the hospital, doctor or other birth attendant
What do birth certificates include?
- Names
- Addresses
- Ages
- Race
- Ethnicity
- Education levels
What do medical and health information include?
- Prenatal care
- Birth weight
- Medical risk factors
- Complications of labor and delivery
- Obstetrical procedures
- Abnormalities in the new born
What does the uncertainty of death certificates depend on?
A number of uncertainties depend on how well the informant knew the deceased and the circumstances of the death
What are the causes of uncertainty in death certificates?
- Incorrect diagnoses (absence of autopsy -> exact cause of death not known)
- Number of conditions contribute to death -> underlying and immediate causes may be confused
- Suicide/AIDS misstated deliberately because of social stigma
What do vital statistics include?
- Births and deaths
- Marriages and divorces
- Spontaneous foetal deaths
- Abortions
Describe what the NCHS has done with infant mortality being an important health issue
NCHS has set up a special computer system that links vital records of infants born during a given year who died before their first birthday -> linkage allows researchers to compare information on death certificates with that on birth certificates, providing insight into factors that contribute to infant deaths
Why are errors worrisome for public health?
Mortality data have such a strong influence on planning and priority setting for public health programs
What is an Autopsy/Post-mortem examination?
A specialised surgical procedure used to determine the cause and manner of death
Cause of death = the medical reason explaining why a patient has passed
Manner of death = the circumstances surrounding death
Who usually performs autopsies?
A specialised medical doctor called a Pathologist
[medical examiner/coroner can determine the cause of death]
What is the advantage of autopsies?
Information obtained can
- improve the quality of medical care for future patients
- improve the accuracy of vital statistics
What are the advantages of electronic information?
- Weekly reports of notifiable diseases from state and local health agencies are transmitted electronically to the CDC -> prompt response to new outbreaks
- Lab reports reported electronically -> Facilitate rapid identification of bacterial + viral strains causing illness in scattered locations around the country
- Databases kept up-to-date by electronic findings -> provide rapid feedback on effectiveness of new public health interventions + help detect emerging problems
What is Public health informatics?
The systematic application of information and computer science and technology to public health practice, research and learning
Who makes information available over the internet?
The CDC and most federal and state public health agencies
What must happen to the data collected through the vital statistics system for it to be useful for many public health purposes?
It must be converted into rates -> calculations require information on number of people in the population being referred to
What is necessary to calculate age-adjusted or age-specific rates?
How many people are in each age group
What is necessary to determine sex-specific or race-specific rates?
How many males and females there are and how many races are in each sex and each age group
The US constitution requires that the population of the US be counted every ________ years to determine each state’s representation in the House of Representatives
10 years
What is the Census Bureau?
A national survey that provides data not only on the geographic distribution of the population and its sex, age, and ethnic characteristics, but also on a wide variety of social and economic characteristics, including education, housing, and health insurance status.
What is the function of the Census Bureau?
- Tracks trends in the population between the decennial censuses
- Vital for the operation of the nation’s social, political, economic and industrial systems
- Essential for the practice of public health
Why are some people missed or counted twice in the census?
- Missing ones = the poorest/most marginal members of the population (homeless, illegal immigrants and fugitives from the law)
- Counted twice = wealthy people who own more than one home
Is the long form still collected in the decennial census?
NO
Explanation: In 2010 only short form is used for the census and the American community survey (ACS) now collects the same kind of information collected on the long form
What is the difference between the long form and the short form?
Short form = asks for name, age, sex, race, ethnicity and relationship of every living in the household
Long form = asks about education, housing, employment, transportation, language, ancestry and other issues useful for governments and businesses
