Data and Statistics
Data, Statistics and Reports by Year
Epidemiology
Monitoring the health status of the population is a core function of the public health system. The Ottawa County Health Department has established this web site to provide our community and others interested, with data and reports that describe the health status and health issues of Ottawa County residents. Monitoring of the health status is based on the foundation of epidemiology and surveillance.
A simplified definition of epidemiology is the task of using data to answer questions of:
- Who is getting sick?
- What is making people sick? and,
- How can we use this information to reduce the risk of others getting sick?
Quality health data is needed to answer these questions. A surveillance system that serves to collect health data in a complete and timely manner is thus essential to the practice of epidemiology.
Surveillance is defined as “the ongoing systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of outcome-specific data for use in planning, implementation, and evaluation of public health practice.” Data collected in a surveillance system can be used for many purposes, including:
- To estimate the magnitude of a health problem in a population
- To understand the natural history of a disease
- To detect outbreaks or epidemics
- To document the distribution of a health event
- To test hypotheses about causes of disease
- To monitor changes in infectious organisms
Healthy People 2010
Healthy People 2010 is designed to achieve two primary goals:
Goal 1: To help individuals of all ages increase life expectancy and improve their quality of life.
- Life expectancy is the average number of years people born in a given year are expected to live based on a set of age-specific death rates.
- Quality of life reflects a general sense of happiness and satisfaction with our lives and environment. General quality of life encompasses all aspects of life, including health, recreation, culture, rights, values, beliefs, aspirations and the conditions that support a life containing these elements.
Goal 2: To eliminate health disparities among different segments of the population.
- The second goal is to eliminate health disparities among different segments of the population. These include differences that occur by gender, race or ethnicity, education or income, disability, living in rural communities or sexual orientation.
The leading health indicators are the 10 high priority areas for the nation's health that include:
- Physical Activity
- Overweight and Obesity
- Tobacco Use
- Substance Abuse
- Responsible Sexual Behavior
- Mental Health
- Injury and Violence
- Environmental Quality
- Immunizations
- Access to Health Care
More information can be found by visiting the Healthy People 2010 Website.
List of Data Resources
U. S. Census Bureau
Michigan Department
of Community Health
Kids Count
in Michigan Data Book 2008
U.S. Department
of Labor Bureau
Michigan
Department of Community Health BRFS Regional Estimates
Department
of Community Health Bureau of Health Systems
Primary
Health Care Profile of Michigan
Air Quality
Index Summary report, Environmental Protection Agency
Michigan
State Police Uniform Crime Report
