Health Statistics and Data Sources

Health related statistics and data sources are increasingly available on the Internet. They can be found already neatly packaged, or as raw data sets. The most reliable data comes from governmental sources or health-care professional organizations.

Introduction

"Health statistics are numbers that summarize information related to health." (MedlinePlus: Health Statistics)

Health statistics are used to understand risk factors for communities, track and monitor health events such as diseases, see the impact of policy changes, and assess the quality and safety of health care. Health statistics are a form of evidence or facts that can support a conclusion. Both evidence-informed policy-making and evidence-based medicine (EBM) are essential to informing how best to provide health care and promote population health. (NLM: Finding and Using Health Statistics Tutorial)

"Health Statistics." MedlinePlus, 25 October, 2023

Bartkowiak, B. A., & Finnegan, B. J. (2004). Health statistics. Clinical medicine & research, 2(3), 189–190. 

Gupta, J. (2013). Understanding statistics:  a guide for medical students. National AMR.  University of Leeds.

Israni, R.K. (2007). Guide to biostatistics. MedPageTools/MedPageToday.com.

 

Last Updated: Nov 15, 2024 9:49 AM