Recorded presentation

Christopher J. Mansfield, PhD, Denise Kirk, MS, James L. Wilson, PhD, Luke Schwankl, BA, Michael L. Gwaltney, BA, and Zoe Yetman, BSBA. Center for Health Services Research and Development, East Carolina University, Building "N", Physicians Quadrangle, Greenville, NC 27858, 252-816-2785, mansfieldc@mail.ecu.edu

Background: Community health planners must usually rely on mortality data produced by state health departments. While these data provide snapshots, they typically do not provide longitudinal analyses of trends and disparities at the local level. The East Carolina University Center for Health Services Research and Development repackages data and provides a workbook that allows individuals without sophisticated statistical knowledge or software to easily produce customized information from very large public data files.

Method: State vital statistic files are run through a “black-box” SAS program that extracts data for 10 leading causes of death over 23 years to produce crude and age-adjusted mortality and premature mortality rates. These data are then exported into Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint for a county or cluster of counties for manipulation guided by the workbook.

Results: County- or region-specific graphs and tables of mortality, premature mortality, and disparities are produced for the leading causes of death, providing a chronological analysis by race, gender, and region. This information is published in a book with PowerPoint slides to be used in community diagnosis.

Conclusion: The “black box” to distill the data and the workbook for extracting and analyzing them are easily used by individuals without extensive training or sophisticated software packages. The process yields useful, readily grasped information for local health planning. For MPH students, the process is an excellent way of applying epidemiology and biostatistic skills, assisting local health planning, and passing on skills to local practitioners.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand and receive access to a workbook for manipulating large vital statistics data sets to produce data for community health assessments.
• Learn how to present mortality ahd disparity data in easily grasped graphics for use in local health planning.

Keywords: Data/Surveillance, Community Health Planning

Related Web page: www.chsrd.med.ecu.edu

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: East Carolina University, Center for Health Services Research and Development
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Recorded presentation