Question

Health Assessments

Most community health assessments involve the analysis of some type of population-based data. However, there are many different data sources and statistical techniques that can be used. The question then becomes, which statistical sources are most appropriate for describing health problems? In short, it is essential for you to review some of the basic statistical techniques used in these analyses. Utilizing resources such as interviews of key staff, documents at your local government health offices, and the Internet, compile your observations about the types of statistics used in describing health problems within your community. Based on your observations and understanding, respond to the following:

Examine and explain the types of statistics used in describing health problems.

Describe an odds ratio.

Describe relative risk.

Describe a confidence interval

Answer 1

Health statistics include data and estimates related to health, such as mortality, morbidity, risk factors, health service coverage, and health systems. The production and dissemination of health statistics is an activity mandated by its Member States in its Constitution

Population surveys developed now provide a large body of information. Surveys of providers such as physicians, hospitals and nursing homes are also an important source of information.

Vital statistics drawn from the records of births, deaths, marriages and divorces facilitate detailed analyses of particular conditions. There are registers that show the incidences and prevalence and out comes of these treats diseases. Various administration records complied during a hospital stay, at out patient clinics and at physicians clinics, provide perspective.

Statistical sources are data that are collected primarily for creating official statistics, and include statistical surveys and censuses. Secondary sources, are data that have been primarily collected for some other purpose.

The healthcare industry is driven by data. Data that comes from many sources in healthcare such as patient laboratory tests and procedures. It is also transmitted from providers to payers to determine the appropriate payment for services provided to patients. A consumer's health record is a primary type of data source.

The confidence interval indicates the level of uncertainty around the measure of effect which in this case is expressed as an odd ratio. Confidence intervals are used because a study recruits only a small sample of the overall population so by having an upper and lower confidence limit one can infer that the true population effect lies between these two points. Most studies report the 95% confidence interval.

The terminology of Odds Ratios and Relative Risks are confused despite being unique concepts. Both measure an association between a binary outcome variable and a binary predictor variable.

The names are sometimes used interchangeably. They shouldn’t be because they’re actually interpreted differently. So it’s important to keep them separate and to be precise in the language you use.

The basic difference is that the odds ratio is a ratio of two odds whereas the relative risk is a ratio of two probabilities.

The odds ratio is the ratio of the odds of an event in the Treatment group to the odds of an event in the control group. The term Odds is common place, but not clear, and often used inappropriately. The odds of an event is the number of events against the number of non-events.

This turns out to be equivalent to the probability of an event and the probability of a non-event.