Summary
This chapter has presented common descriptive measures, namely rates and ratios, useful in planning and evaluating health care services, policies, and programs. Rates are used to identify and prioritize health problems within a population,assess variability of the utilization of health care resources, evaluate progress toward achieving health goals, and propose hypotheses regarding the etiology and control of health problems. Rates also are used to assess health, disease, and exposure patterns and their variability in populations. Ratios aid in evaluating the degree of the relationship between exposure and outcome.Descriptive mea- sures, in general, are useful in identifying the components of the health care system that could be modified to improve the health status of populations. The specific type of epidemiological measure used depends on the objective of the assessment, the nature of the health problem being evaluated, and the type of data available.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Anderson, R. N., and Rosenberg, H. M., 1998, Age standardization of death rates: Implementation of the year 2000 standard, National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 47,No. 3, National Center for Health Statistics, Hyattsville, MD.
Carriere, K. C., and Roos, L. L., 1994, Comparing standardized rates of events, Am. J. Epidemiol. 140:472–482.
Cole, P., and MacMahon, B., 1971, Attributable risk percent in case-control studies, Br. J. Prevention and Soc. Med. 25:242–244.
Dean, A. G., Arner, T. G., Sangam, S., Sunki, G. G., Friedman, R., Lantiga, M., Zubieta, J. C., Sullivan, K. M., and Smith, D. C., 2000, Epi Info™ 2000, a database and statistics program for public health professionals for use on Window 95, 98, NT, and 2000 computers, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA.
Derby, C. A., Lapane, K. L., Feldman, H. A., and Carleton, R. A., 2000, Sex-specific trends in validated coronary heart disease rates in southeastern New England, 1980–1991, Am. J. Epidemiol. 151:417–429.
Fleiss, J. L., 1981, Statistical Methods for Rates and Proportions, 2nd ed., John Wiley & Sons, New York.
Gorelick, P. B., 1994, Stroke prevention: An opportunity for efficient utilization of health care resources during the coming decade, Stroke 25:220–224.
Kahn, H. A., and Sempos, C. T., 1989, Statistical Methods in Epidemiology, Oxford University Press, New York.
Kramarow, E., Lentzner, H., Rooks, R., Weeks, J., and Saydah, S., 1999, Health and Aging Chartbook: Health United States, 1999, National Center for Health Statistics, Hyattsville, MD.
Lauderdale, D. S., Furner, S. E., Miles, T. P., and Goldberg, J., 1993, Epidemiologic uses of Medicare data. Epidemiol. Rev. 15:319–327.
Los Angeles County Department of Health Services and the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, 2000, The Burden of Disease in Los Angeles County, County of Los Angeles, CA.
Murray, C. J. L., and Lopez, A. D. (eds.), 1996, The Global Burden of Disease: A Comprehensive Assessment of Mortality and Disability from Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors in 1990 and Projected to 2020, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
Myers, A. H., Robinson, E. G., Van Natta, M. L., Michelson, D., Collins, K., and Baker, S. P., 1991, Hip fractures among the elderly: Factors associated with in-hospital mortality, Am. J. Epidemiol. 134:1128–1137.
National Center for Health Statistics, 1999, Health United States, 1999 with Health and Aging Chartbook, Hyattsville, MD.
Oleske, D. M., Branca, M. L., Schmidt, J. B., Ferguson, R., and Linn, E. S., 1998, A comparison of capitated and fee-for-service Medicaid reimbursement methods on pregnancy outcomes, HSR: Health Services Res. 33:55–73.
Ries, L. A. G., Kosary, C. L., Hankey, B. F., Miller, B. A., Cleff, L., and Edwards, B. K. (eds.), 1999, SEER Cancer Statistics Review 1973–1996, National Cancer Institute. Bethesda, MD.
Sesso, H. D., Paffenbarger, R. S., and Lee, I., 2000, Comparison of national death index and world wide web death searches, Am. J. Epidemiol. 152:107–111
Sorlie, P. D., Thom, T. J., Manolio, T., Rosenberg, H. M., Anderson, R. N., and Burke, G. L., 1999, Age-adjusted death rates: Consequences of the year 2000 standard, Ann. Epidemiol. 9:93–100.
Walter, S. D., 1978, Calculation of attributable risks from epidemiological data, Int. J. Epidemiol. 7:75–182.
Wilson, P. W. F., and Evans, J. C., 1993, Coronary artery disease prediction, Am. J. Hypertens. 6:309S–312S.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2002 Kluwer Academic Publishers
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Oleske, D.M. (2002). Descriptive Epidemiological Measures. In: Oleske, D.M. (eds) Epidemiology and the Delivery of Health Care Services. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-47557-X_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-47557-X_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-306-46525-3
Online ISBN: 978-0-306-47557-3
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive