Public Health Data

National Data Sources

General Public Health Resources
List of topic areas that link to national data sources, which contain state and/or local level data on selected public health problems or concerns.

Data Resource Center for Child & Adolescent Health
Free online resource presenting data from the National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH) and the National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs (NS-CSHCN).

Data Methods

Unique Identifiers, Discussion, Recommendations, and Testing (pdf)< An overview of criteria for selecting a unique identifier through a process that included a literature review, convening a group of experts to participate in the Unique ID Subcommittee, a survey of county MCAH directors and state program directors on uses of client tracking systems and preferences on approaches, a confidentiality and ethical literature review and participation on various state committees also studying unique ID such as the school linked data project (CIDC) and the California Health Information for Policy Project (CHIPP).

Do We Have a Linear Trend? (pdf) 
Monitoring trends in community health status is an important public health function. Statewide trends may differ from local trends. Monitoring trends also is of value in assessing the impact of public health interventions. It is important that program staff distinguish between significant differences in a number or rate from year to year, and significant trends over 5 or more years. However, few public health managers have the analytic expertise to determine whether a trend may be occurring and, if so, whether it is statistically significant. These guidelines are intended to help program staff and epidemiologists from local health jurisdictions make such determinations.

Publications