Session: Using Regional and National Data to Improve Local Health Assessments

4079.0: Tuesday, October 23, 2001: 8:30 AM-10:00 AM

Oral Session

Using Regional and National Data to Improve Local Health Assessments

Local health profiles and report cards are proliferating, in attempts to communicate local health disparities, and to motivate communities to act in ways that improve health. However, the availability of local data on which to base such reports often seems limited, and available data may be less precise than desirable. Indeed, substantial statistical issues must be dealt with in deriving valid local health benchmarks. Four strategies are presented that attempt to utilize existing data to their best advantage in the development of prudent local measures.

See individual abstracts for presenting author's disclosure statement.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant should be able to: 1. Describe a variety of options available to local officials for estimating the extent and distribution of a local health problem using synthetic estimation or statistical modeling. 2. List advantages and disadvantages of these options in the context of local estimation of risk factor prevalences using data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.

Presider(s):

Norma Fox Kanarek, PhD

Organizer(s):

Norma Fox Kanarek, PhD

8:30 AM

Using adjacent areas to estimate small area prevalence of risk factors (BRFSS)
Tim E. Aldrich, PhD, MPH, Woody J. Coker, John R. Ureda, DrPH

8:50 AM

Assessment of local health data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Systems
Haomiao Jia, PhD

9:10 AM

Characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of synthetic estimates derived from national surveys
P.D. Williams

9:30 AM

Statistical issues in using Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data for local prevalences
Matthew M. Zack, MD, MPH