Last revised: August 2009

Health and Medical Statistics on the Internet

Scope: This guide provides sources for health and medical statistics that may be found on the Internet. Sources and strategies for finding print sources of health statistics may be found at the end of the guide. For more information, contact the subject area specialist, Stuart Gagnon, by e-mail at sgagnon@umd.edu.

Sources of Statistics

• Clinical studies - prospective and retrospective
• Medical literature (journals)
• Hospital discharge records (National Hospital Discharge Survey)
• Government records showing amounts spent on Medicare and Medicaid
• Insurance company records
• Censuses
• Death investigations by coroners and medical examiners
• Surveillance by public health departments and universities
• Reports from clinics, hospitals, doctors, and other healthcare practitioners by the Centers for Disease Control and other health-related agencies (dependent on existing laws)
• Sampling and surveys by the National Center for Health Statistics and other agencies
• Disease registries
• Interviews

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Strategies for Finding Statistics

• Go directly to a recommended site for which you have a URL.
• Use a statistics subject list or "metasite" where an individual or group has compiled many Internet sites that contain statistics (e.g., FEDSTATS).
• Search a bibliographic database (e.g., MEDLINE, CINAHL).
• Find organizations using at least two search engines (e.g., Google). For example, type in "National Center for Health Statistics" (use quotes).

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National Statistics

• The 2008 Green Book
  [ http://waysandmeans.house.gov/Documents.asp?section=2168]
  Provides program descriptions and historical data on topics which include Social Security, employment, earnings, welfare, child support, health insurance, the elderly, families with children, poverty, and taxation. It has become a standard reference work for those interested in the direction of social policy in the United States. The 2004 edition is available online at http://waysandmeans.house.gov/Documents.asp?section=813 .

• Health, United States with Chartbook on the Trends in the Health of Americans, Hyattsville, MD, 2005, National Center for Health Statistics
  [http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/hus.htm]
  Includes national trends in health statistics on such topics as population, fertility and natality, mortality, determinants and measures of health, ambulatory care, inpatient care, health personnel, facilities, national health expenditures, health care coverage and major federal programs, state health expenditures and health insurance. Previous editions of Health, United States are also available online from 1975-2005.

• Healthy People 2010, Washington, D.C., U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, 2000
  [http://www.healthypeople.gov/document/]
  Provides a framework of national health objectives for the United States. The most significant preventable health threats and national goals to reduce the threats are addressed.

• Statistical Abstract of the United States, Washington, D.C., Bureau of the Census, 2006
  [http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/]
  Provides statistics for population, vital statistics, health and nutrition, and much more for 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004-2005. The tables of content with links to full-text of the 1995-2000 editions are available at http://www.census.gov/prod/www/statistical-abstract-us.html.

Journals

• Advance Data From Vital and Health Statistics
  [http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/ad.htm]
  Data from the National Center for Health Statistics' health and demographic surveys. Find Issues 254 (August 1994) to the present. Paper copies may be found in Government Documents, 4th floor of McKeldin Library.

• MMWR: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
  [http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/]
  Based on weekly reports to CDC by state health departments, this report includes national and state data on diseases and a review of selected health problems.

• National Vital Statistics System, Hyattsville, MD, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Public Health Service, National Center for Health Statistics
  [http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss.htm]
  Includes national and state, cumulative and monthly data, on births, deaths, marriages, divorces, and fetal deaths. Called the Monthly Vital Statistics Report prior to volume 47, issue 1.

• Vital and Health Statistics Series ("The Rainbow Series")
  [http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/series/ser.htm]
  An ongoing series providing data on the national population, including natality, marriage, divorce, family growth, induced terminations of pregnancy, and more.

Organizations

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
  [http://www.cdc.gov/]
  An agency of the Department of Health and Human Services, the CDC serves to "promote health and quality of life by preserving and controlling disease, injury, and disability". Select Data & Statistics from the shaded area on the left.

• Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP)
  [http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/overview.jsp]
  Sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Department of Health and Human Services, HCUP is a collaborative effort by industry and state and federal agencies. HCUP provides HCUPnet, an "interactive tool for identifying, tracking, analyzing, and comparing statistics on hospital and emergency care" using data supplied by participating states.

• National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS)
  [http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/]
  Part of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Health and Human Services, NCHS serves as the primary Federal organization responsible for the collection, analysis, and dissemination of health statistics. NCHS data systems include data on vital events as well as information on health status, lifestyle and exposure to unhealthy influences, the onset and diagnosis of illness and disability, and the use of health care.

• U.S. Census Bureau
  [http://www.census.gov/main/www/subjects.html]
  Provides links to general and specific national socioeconomic information, such as age data, characteristics of at-home workers, and population characteristics by zip code.

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State Statistics

• CDC's State Health Department Search
  [http://www.cdc.gov/states.htm]
  Search for information on one or more state department of health services' home pages.

• State Health Facts, The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
  [http://www.statehealthfacts.org/]
  Data is available for demographics and the economy, health status, health coverage, Medicaid and Medicare, health costs, managed care, minority health, women's health, HIV/AIDS, and more. Individual state profiles are available as well as 50 state comparisons.

• Tabulated State Data, National Center for Health Statistics, CDC
  [http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/datawh.htm#tabulated state data]
  Scroll to the bottom of the page to find the Tabulated State Data section. Included are pretabulated tables for births, deaths, infant deaths, Healthy People 2000 state objectives, mortality, natality, health status, and more. You may also build your own tables in areas such as women, aging, Healthy People 2010, and more.

• U.S. Census Data Centers
  [http://www.census.gov/sdc/www/]
  Provides a list of links to Census State Data Centers. These centers provide training and technical assistance in accessing Census data for research, administration, and such. Among those listed is McKeldin Library, Government Documents Section, on the 4th floor.

• General Statistical Resources
  Health Sciences and Human Services Library, Baltimore, MD
  [http://guides.hshsl.umaryland.edu/statistics]
  

• Maryland Statistical Resources
  Health Sciences and Human Services Library, Baltimore, MD
  [http://guides.hshsl.umaryland.edu/content.php?pid=50212&sid=368852]
  

• Statistics by Selected Subjects
  Health Sciences and Human Services Library, Baltimore, MD
  [http://guides.hshsl.umaryland.edu/content.php?pid=50212&sid=456957]
  Subjects with Maryland statistics linked include but are not limited to AIDS, asthma, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, pregnancy, smoking, and women's health.

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Metropolitan Statistics

• State and Metropolitan Area Data Book 1997-1998 (5th ed.)
  [http://www.census.gov/statab/www/smadb.html]
  This online full-text book includes a collection of statistics on social and economic conditions in the United States at the State and metropolitan area levels with selected data for component counties and central cities of metropolitan areas. MSA data is provided on births, deaths, physicians, and education.

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County Statistics

• Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
  [http://www.dhmh.state.md.us/health/info&data.htm]
  Provides annual vital statistics reports for each county and data on sexually transmitted diseases for Maryland. Links to Maryland county health departments can be found at http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/mdmanual/01glance/html/healloc.html. Navigate each page to find local health statistics.

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International Statistics

• Eurosurveillance Weekly and Monthly
  [http://www.eurosurveillance.org/]
  Provides peer-reviewed information on communicable disease surveillance from European public health centers.

• Weekly Epidemiological Record (WER)
  [http://www.who.int/wer/en]
  Available through the World Health Organization, this document provides dissemination of epidemiological information on cases and outbreaks of diseases under the International Health Regulations as well as newly emerging or re-emerging infections, noncommunicable diseases, and other health problems.

Organizations

• Demographic and Health Surveys
  [http://www.measuredhs.com/]
  Provides easily searchable statistics on fertility, childhood mortality, contraception, maternity care, and child health in over 75 developing countries.

• Epidemiology (Public Health, Biosciences, Medicine), Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California at San Francisco
  [http://www.epibiostat.ucsf.edu/epidem/epidem.html]
  Includes a section on government agencies that provide Web resources by country.

• Infonation
  [http://cyberschoolbus.un.org/infonation3/menu/advanced.asp]
  A searchable database of countries belonging to the United Nations with factors including economy, population, and social indicators.

• Pan American Health Organization
  [http://www.paho.org/english/country.htm]
  Basic Country Health Profiles, Summaries 1999, includes a country profile database serving as the official regional information source on mortality in the Americas. Provides health profiles of 44 countries in North and South America with sections on demographics, socioeconomics, mortality, morbidity, resources with access and coverage information, and a detailed Health Situation Analysis and Trends Survey.

• U.S. Census Bureau's International Database
  [http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idb/]
  A computerized data bank of statistical tables of demographic and socioeconomic data for all countries in the world. (data updated 4.26.05)

• WHOSIS
  [http://www3.who.int/whosis/menu.cfm]
  Provided by the World Health Organization (WHO), this extensive resource includes data and full-text resources and links to many topics such as child health and development, tropical diseases, noncommunicable diseases, TB, leprosy, and more. (Note: Emerging new version of Web site started May 22, 2006)

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Metasites

• Finding and Using Health Statistics - A Self-Study Course
  National Library of Medicine's Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology (NICHSR)
  [http://www.nlm.nih.gov/nichsr/stats/contents.html]
  Provides searching tips for users seeking health-related statistical information. The course is based on Dr. Dan Melneck's book, Portrait of Health in the United States, published by Bernan Press.

• Health Data Tools and Statistics
  Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce
  [http://phpartners.org/health_stats.html]
  Includes a wealth of links to public health statistics. Categories include health statistics, national public health data sets, state and local public health data sets, public health infrastructure data, search for other tools, and tools for data collection and planning.

• MEDLINEplus
  National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health
  [http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/]
  Brings together, by health topic, authoritative information from NLM, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), other government, non-profit and other health-related organizations. Useful for finding statistics on a specific disease, condition, or health topic. Click on Health Topics. Search for a topic, such as cancer. Most topics will include a section labeled, Statistics, which includes links to full-text online. Also click on the topic, Health Statistics, for a listing of linked sources.

• Statistical Resources on the Web: Health
  University of Michigan Documents Center
  [http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/sthealth.html]
  An extremely comprehensive site for comprehensive and international statistics as well as on topics such as accidents, disability, experimentation, health care, insurance, HMOs, hospitals, life tables, nutrition, substance abuse, transplants, and vital statistics.

• Statistics Resources by Subject
  Health Sciences and Human Services Library, Baltimore, MD
  [http://www.hshsl.umaryland.edu/resources/statsbysub.html]
  Links numerous statistical Web sites under the categories of general health statistics, population, statistics by selected subjects (e.g. HIV/AIDS), compilations of statistics sites on the Web, and FedStats. Statistics sites for Maryland as well as the United States and some international may be found here.

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Databases

• MEDLINE [PubMed] (1963- )
  Comprehensive database for biomedicine. Citations, abstracts, and link-out to some full-text at publisher's Web sites. More than 5,000 medical journals and basic science journals related to medicine, including OLDMEDLINE. Broad scope. Updated weekly.
  Examples of Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms for finding statistics include: National Center for Health Statistics, Statistics, Birthrate, Vital Statistics, Health Surveys, Data Collections, Demography, Morbidity, Mortality, Incidence, Prevalence, Epidemiologic Methods, Epidemiological Studies, Meta-Analysis, Cohort Studies, Comparative Studies, Cross-Sectional Studies, Longitudinal Studies, Multicenter Studies, Prospective Studies, Risk, Risk Factors, and others. Examples of subheadings to be used with MeSH terms include: Epidemiology, Manpower, Mortality, Statistics and Numerical Data, Supply and Distribution, Trends, and Utilization.

• CINAHL [Cumulative Nursing and Allied Health Lit.] (EBSCOhost) (1982- ) UM only
  Citations and abstracts for nearly 800 journals, books, dissertations, standards, and educational software worldwide. Strong in nursing. Also includes speech and hearing, sports medicine, public health, alternative and complementary medicine, health education, health informatics, and aging.
  Use the CINAHL Subject Headings online. Examples of CINAHL Subject Headings include: Epidemiology, Incidence, Prevalence, Statistics, Vital Statistics, Birth Rate, Health Status Indicators, Demography, Morbidity, Mortality, and Trend Studies.

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General Sources for Statistics

• Bernstein, Paula. Finding Statistics Online: How To Locate the Elusive Numbers You Need.
  Medford, NJ: Information Today, 1998.
  LOCATIONS: McKeldin Library Reference Stacks, McKeldin Library Government Documents Reference, EPSL Reference
  CALL NUMBER: HA33.5.B47 1998
  

• Notess, Greg R. Government Information on the Internet, 3rd ed.
  Lanham, MD: Bernan Press, 2000.
  LOCATION: McKeldin Library Government Documents Reference
  CALL NUMBER: ZA5075.N69 2000
  Chapter 4: Census and other statistics; Chapter 9: Health sciences.

• Wood, M. Sandra, ed. Health Care Resources on the Internet: A Guide For Librarians and Health Care Consumers.
  New York: Haworth Information Press, 2000.
  LOCATION: McKeldin Library Reference Stacks, McKeldin Library Stacks
  CALL NUMBER: R119.9.H39 2000
  

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Finding Sources in the Catalog

To find sources specifically in Maryland, some sample terms are: Medicine, State Maryland Statistics; Maryland Center for Health Statistics; Medical assistance Maryland Statistics; Maryland statistics; Health surveys Maryland. Many of the sources may be found in the Maryland Room on the 1st floor of Hornbake Library. Hours are limited.

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