Health indicators

World Health Organization (2006) Report on the Regional Consultation on health and environment linkages initiative (HELI) and children s environmental health indicators. Report WHO-EM/CEH/131/E, World Health Organization, Geneva, www.who.int/entity/ ceh/cehi heliconsult.pdf... 

Outcome health to AIDS product Comparison of health indicators (incidence, prevalence, fife expectancy, hfe years gained, QALYs etc.) and economic indicators (e.g. wealth, growth etc.)... 

The most significant difference in human health indicators between the experimental and control villages was in Uzbekistan (with 18 indicators), Armenia (13 indicators), Azerbaijan and rice growing regions of the Krasnodar Krai in Russia (11 indicators), and Moldavia (10 indicators). The lowest number of differences (with only 3-4 indicators) was detected in the Rovensk and Vinnitsk Oblasts of Ukraine. It is important to emphasize that the... 

Evstafyeva, E., Orlinsky, D., Osovsky, U., Semenov, I., Evstafyeva, I. (1999). Human health indices and criteria for CL (HM, POPs) calculation. In V. N. Bashkin and H. D. Gregor (Eds.). Calculation of Critical Loads of Air Pollutants at Ecosystems of East Europe. ONTI Publishing House, Pushchino-UBA, Berlin, pp. 118-126. 

Several studies have attempted to correlate increased numbers of hospital admissions with variations in photochemical-oxidant pollution. The California Department of Public Health study of excess mortalhy also investigated hospital admissions as a possible health indicator of oxidant pollution. Admissions to Los Angeles County General Hospital in September through December 1954 for childhood asthma, tuberculosis, other respiratory diseases, and all other causes were examined. No significant association with oxidant concentrations was found. 

Regarding the shelf life issue, it is always prudent to widely and diligently publicize any known limitations to a deployed model, actively monitor the model s performance with respect to both its outputs and its health indicators (T and 0, and to promptly address any model updates that might be required. 

A conclusive assessment on the effects of organic farming on animal welfare and health indicators is given in the following scheme (Table 4-23). 

Finding 4-1. A Phase 1 QRA for using a baseline incineration system at Pueblo has been completed, and the point estimation of the impact on public health indicates that the risk to the public due to accidental releases would be extremely low. The HRA for Pueblo has not yet been completed. Several additional analyses are being conducted to support operational and design decisions for a modified baseline process. It is not clear how the Army is going to use the collective risk information it has or is seeking and in what framework this information will be used. 

Many indicators or substitute measures are in use in public health. Some are exposure indicators. Examples are COhb as an indicator for CO poisoning, nicotine as indicator for tobacco smoke, C02 as ventilation indicator, PM10 as a measure of particulate matter, and Olf/Decipol as an indicator for air pollution with bio-effluents from occupants. Some are health indicators, such as changed lung function for health effects caused by indoor air environment, and some may have a double function as both exposure and effect indicator (such as SBS). 

When studying the ecological status of watersheds and landscapes, monitoring techniques and indicators are widely used tools. The diagnostic indicators comprise indicator species and community metric approaches. To improve the interpretation of monitoring programs and ecosystem health indicators to assess risks of... 

Davis DL, Gottlieb MB, Stampnitzky JR (1998) Reduced ratio of male to female births in several industrial countries A sentinel health indicator. J Am Med Assoc, 279 1018-1023. 

WRI (2002) Environmental health indicator. Developing countries Potential exposure to polluted outdoor air. Washington, DC, World Resources Institute (http //pdf.wri.org/ ehi outairdev.pdf). 

Dinse, G. E., Umbach, D. M., Sasco, A. J., Hoel, D. G., and Davis, D. L. (1999). Unexplained increased in cancer incidence in the United States from 1975 to 1994 Possible sentient health indicators Annu. Rev. Public Health 20, 173—209. 

Several types of data are routinely collected related to infectious disease surveillance, including morbidity, mortality, and health indicator data (CDC, 1992). Each state has requirements for mandatory reporting by health care providers and facilities, including laboratories, of cases of notifiable infectious diseases. There is a national notifiable disease list as well, for which reporting is voluntary, with data compiled through the National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System (CDC, 2004d, 2006). 

Syndromic surveillance systems have developed in tandem with advances in information technology. A major component of many syndromic systems is the use of available electronic databases to capture health indicator data. With such computerized data, automated search algorithms can he applied to detect unusual patterns that may signal an outbreak and can provide that signal earlier than is feasible using traditional surveillance methods (CDC, 2000 Lazarus et al., 2002 Polyak, Elbert, Pavlin, Kelley, 2002 Teich et al., 2002). 

New York City. The New York City Department of Public Health and Mental Hygiene collects health indicator data on emergency department visits, retail pharmacy sales, and ambulance dispatch logs, along with one employer s worker absenteeism rates, as part of an integrated, citywide surveillance system (Heffer-nan et al., 2004). 

BioSense Biosense is a CDC initiative that is aimed at providing a national level system for early detection of bioterror events. The system provides public health officials at all levels with secure, near real-time access to health indicator data from participating health care organizations (CDC, 2007b). 

Community service organizations can play a direct role in providing specific health indicator data that would contribute to a syndromic surveillance system. Worksite absenteeism or patterns of health care behavior among clients are examples of potential indicators, but issues related to the confidentiality of such information under HIPAA have yet to be fully addressed. Even if no formal surveillance partnership to provide data exists, community service organizations should still consider themselves as stakeholders in the overall community response plans for biological events. They should also publicize the emergency public health contact information within their organizations. Table 20.3 lists several specific actions that community service... 

Establish a reporting process for unusual patterns of health indicator data. 

Recognize the potential role of community service organization as surveillance partners for detection of biological events. Establish a plan with local health officials to monitor selected health indicator data within the organization. 

Public health surveillance is an essential process for detection of biological events. The traditional notifiable disease reporting system remains an important component of infectious diseases surveillance however, new approaches are being implemented that may enhance capabilities for early detection of events. The increasing availability of electronic health data and advances in information technologies provide opportunities for active, real-time surveillance systems (Teich et al., 2002). Syndromic surveillance systems that rely on alternative health indicators and detection of unusual patterns have... 

Health Indicator Data. Many types of health indicator data can be used as baseline information (Franz et al., 2001). The type of data available will vary by practice set-... 

Identify examples of health indicator data that are collected in the clinical setting in which you practice. 

Establish data collection protocols that systematically monitor community health indicators (e.g., aberrations in utilization trends or syndromic surveillance). 

The fact that some xenobiotic-metabolizing cytochrome P450 isoforms are expressed polymorphically (vide infra) and that individuals may lack totally a certain isoform without any detriment to health indicates that the role of these cytochromes P450 in endogenous metabolism is far from life threatening. 

It has been noted that the lack of basic health data is a major constraint at all stages of planning, monitoring and evaluation of health services. Consequently it is not possible to make an accurate assessment of the health status of Nigerians. In fact, the system of collecting basic health data on births, deaths, the occurrence of major diseases and other health indicators on a countr5nvide basis is still developmental. 

Table 1. Demographic and health indicators. Source Ministry of Public Health, 1997.

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