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HSC 205: Introduction to Public Health: Data & Statistics
Books on Statistics
Basic Concepts in Statistics and Epidemiology by Call Number: Gen Coll RA409 .M33 2007Healthcare students, practitioners and researchers need a sound basis for making valid statistical inferences from health data. This book explains how probabilistic inference works along with the various ways statistical data can be described and presented.
Modern Methods for Epidemiology by Call Number: OnlineModern Methods for Epidemiology provides a concise introduction to recent development in statistical methodologies for epidemiological and biomedical researchers.
Mathematical and Statistical Estimation Approaches in Epidemiology by Call Number: OnlineThis collection of contributions presents deterministic and stochastic approaches for epidemic modelling and statistical inference of epidemiological parameters.
Books on Data Usage
GIS and Public Health by Call Number: Gen Coll RA566 .C764 2012Basic GIS concepts and tools are explained, including ways to access and manage spatial databases. The book presents state-of-the-art methods for mapping and analyzing data on population, health events, risk factors, and health services, and for incorporating geographical knowledge into planning and policy.
Other Robust University Public Health Libguides
Data versus Statistics
Data, data sets, and statistics are often used as an interchangeable term in daily conversation. In public health and other disciplines that use qualitative and quantitative analysis, data and statistics have two different meanings.
Data and Data sets are raw information that has yet to be processed for statistical analysis.
Statistics are data that have been analyzed often into rations, percentages, or figures/tables/graphs/visuals to showcase patterns, trends, and/or frequency.
Knowing which type of information you're looking for i.e., prevalence or incidence of a disease versus a strict count of people with that disease will help you determine where to look.
Many times you can get the raw data AND the statistical analysis by doing a search of your health outcome or disease on the CDC or NCHS websites, which are both linked on this guide.
Data Sets
General Data
- Data.govData.gov provides descriptions of the Federal datasets (metadata), information about how to access the datasets, and tools that leverage government datasets.
- Human Mortality Database (HMD)The Human Mortality Database (HMD) was created to provide detailed mortality and population data to researchers, students, journalists, policy analysts, and others interested in the history of human longevity.
- National Health and Nutrition Examination SurveyNHANES is a program of studies designed to assess the health and nutritional status of adults and children in the United States. The survey is unique in that it combines interviews and physical examinations. Site includes data and tutorials.
- Health, Nutrition & Population Data from The World BankData here cover health systems, disease prevention, reproductive health, nutrition, and population dynamics.
- Global Health Observatory Data RepositoryThe GHO data repository provides access to over 50 datasets on priority health topics worldwide.
Specific Disease Data
- SEER Data & Software (National Cancer Institute)Use SEER data to address multiple topics; for example, you can: Examine stage at diagnosis by race/ethnicity. Calculate survival by stage at diagnosis, age at diagnosis, and tumor grade or size. Determine trends and incidence rates for various cancer sites over time.
- CDC - DiabetesDatasets and visualizations tools for national diabetes data.
- National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)The information on these pages includes currently available statistics on the prevalence and treatment of mental illnesses among the U.S. population.
Statistics
South Carolina
- S.C. DHEC Data & StatisticsHealth statistics and surveys, vital statistics, and environmental tools for South Carolina.
United States
- National Center for Health StatisticsThe Nation's principal health statistics agency, NCHS leads the way with accurate, relevant, and timely data.
- CDC Data & Statistics by TopicData and statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by topic from Aging to Workplace.
- Health, United StatesHealth, United States is an annual report on trends in health statistics, including health status, resources, expenditures, and more.
- National Cancer Institute - Cancer StatisticsStatistics, analysis, and reports on cancer trends, cancer types, and cancer by population (i.e., race, ethnicity, gender, age). There are also interactive tools and maps to help you build visualizations.
International
- World Health Organization - Data & StatisticsData and analysis related to mortality, health, sanitation, and more from around the world.
- United Nations Health StatisticsPopulation and demographics related to health from the United Nations.
- NationMasterNationMaster is a massive central data source and a handy way to graphically compare nations. NationMaster is a vast compilation of data from such sources as the CIA World Factbook, UN, and OECD. You can generate maps and graphs on all kinds of statistics with ease.
Social Explorer
- Social ExplorerSocial Explorer provides access to current and historical census data and demographic information and lets users create maps and reports to illustrate, analyze, and understand demography and social change. Among other documents Social Explorer includes the entire US Census from 1790 to 2010, annual updates from the American Community Survey, the Religious Congregations and Membership Study (RCMS) from 1980 to 2010 and Carbon Emissions Data for 2002 from the Vulcan Project.