Data Sources for Surveillance and Monitoring the Health Status of the US Population
Epidemiology is the study of the distribution and determinants of disease frequency in human populations. It is critically important to have records that document the occurrence of disease events and the presence of possible determinants of disease. Today there are many sources of data that are useful for monitoring the health of populations and for exploring how disease frequency changes over time, and how it relates to personal characteristics and location (person, place and time). Below is a partial list of examples of possible data sources.
- US Census and US National Vital Statistics System and the Massachusetts Registry of Vital Statistics and Records and the Massachusetts Vital Statistics Directory. )
- Disease Registries: (Massachusetts Cancer Registry, ALS Registry (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's Disease), and registries for Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis are being formed.)
- Hospital Discharge Registries (e.g. Massachusetts Health Data Consortium)
- In the state of Massachusetts the Community Health Information Profile (MassCHIP) provides a dynamic, user-friendly information service for obtaining free, online access to many health and social indicators. With MassCHIP, you can obtain community-level data to assess health needs, monitor health status indicators, and evaluate health programs.
- Infectious disease surveillance (e.g., Division of Emerging Infections and Surveillance Services (DEISS), and in Massachusetts, the Office of Integrated Surveillance and Informatics Services (ISIS).
- Commercial data (sales of tobacco, drugs, etc.)
And there are many cross-sectional surveys and databases that are periodically conducted, many of which can be accessed from the National Center for Health Statistics.
Here is a list of links to some of these resources:
Link to US National Vital Statistics System
Link to Massachusetts Registry of Vital Statistics and Records
Link to Massachusetts Vital Statistics Directory
Link to Massachusetts Cancer Registry
Link to ALS registry (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease)
Link to Parkinson's disease registry
Link to Massachusetts Health Data Consortium (a registry of hospital discharge summaries in Massachusetts)
Link to MassCHIP) In the state of Massachusetts the Community Health Information Profile [MassCHIP] provides a dynamic, user-friendly information service for obtaining free, online access to many health and social indicators. With MassCHIP, you can obtain community-level data to assess health needs, monitor health status indicators, and evaluate health programs.
Link to US National Center for Health Statistics,
Link to US National Survey of Family Growth
Link to US National Survey of Early Childhood Health
Link to US National Health Interview Survey (NHIS)
Link to US National Health & Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)
Link to Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BFRSS)
Link to US National Death Index
The short video below provides an excellent overview of public health surveillance.
Massachusetts Cancer Registry
Professor Richard Clapp from the Environmental Health Department at Boston University School of Public Health was instrumental in the founding of the Massachusetts Cancer Registry. One of the events that helped provided momentum for the establishment of the MA Cancer Registry was a cluster of leukemia cases that occurred in Woburn, MA in association with environmental contamination. Dr. Clapp was involved in the environmental investigation and became friends with Jan Schlichtmann, the lawyer for the families of the victims. This cluster of leukemia cases and the prolonged legal battle became the subject of a best-selling book ("A Civil Action") by Jonathon Harr, and later it was made into a motion picture starring John Travolta. In the short video clip shown here, Dr. Clapp talks about the founding of the Cancer Registry.
Here are links to two articles from the UNC Focus series; they provide an overview of public health surveillance:
- University of North Carolina (UNC) -Torok M and Anderson M: "Focus on Field Epidemiology: Volume 5; Issue 5: Introduction to Public Health Surveillance."
- University of North Carolina (UNC) - Anderson M: "Focus on Field Epidemiology: Volume 5; Issue 6: Public Health Surveillance Systems".
Environmental Public Health Tracking 101
A CDC online course, Environmental Public Health Tracking 101, provides an overview of the major components of environmental public health tracking. The course is divided into 12 modules within three sections. Topics include how to use the National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network (Link to http://www.cdc.gov/ephtracking), surveillance and epidemiology, types of tracking data, and geographic information systems.
The online course is available at Link to http://www.nehacert.org. The course can be accessed by entering "Tracking 101" in the search box. Continuing education credit is available at no charge for nurses, health educators, and other health professionals.