Health Statistics: About Health Statistics

Data: raw numbers; counts of individual events or services.

Statistics: data analyzed and summarized; presented as percentages, graphs, tables, maps, etc.

Vital statistics: statistics on live births, fetal deaths, deaths, marriages, and divorces.

See also: Common Terms and Equations in Health Statistics

The CDC identifies the following groups as common users of health data:

• Policymakers
  • to track implementation of health policies and programs, set priorities for research and prevention programs, and evaluate outcomes.
• Epidemiologists and researchers
  • to understand trends in health, health care delivery, risk factors, and outcomes.
• Businesses
  • to support health-related activities of manufacturing, marketing, and consulting firms and trade associations.
• Public health professionals
  • to identify and monitor health problems, risk factors, and disease patterns, and to assess the impact of interventions.
• Physicians
  • to evaluate health and risk factors of their patients (such as norms for cholesterol, body weight, blood pressure, and children’s growth).
• Media and advocacy groups
  • to obtain accurate information for use in raising awareness of health issues.