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.

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 Census

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.

  alternative accessible content

Thinking man icon indicating a question for the student  

 

Which of the following represent some of the ways that the state health department may become aware of a potential disease outbreak?

[mark all correct answers]

 
 
 

 

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.

alternative accessible content

 

 

Here are links to two articles from the UNC Focus series; they provide an overview of public health surveillance:

  1. University of North Carolina (UNC) -Torok M and Anderson M: "Focus on Field Epidemiology: Volume 5; Issue 5: Introduction to Public Health Surveillance."
  2. 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.