Abstract
BackgroundHealth indicators are used to monitor the health status and determinants of health of the population and population sub-groups, identify existing or emerging health problems which would require prevention and health promotion activities, help to target health care resources in the most adequate way as well as for evaluation of the success of public health actions both at the national and international level. The quality and validity of the health indicator depends both on available data and used indicator definition. In this study we will evaluate existing knowledge about comparability of different data sources for definition of health indicators, compare how selected health indicators presented in different international databases possibly differ, and finally, present the results from a case study from Finland on comparability of health indicators derived from different data sources at national level.MethodsFor comparisons, four health indicators were selected that were commonly available in international databases and available for the Finnish case study. These were prevalence of obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and asthma in the adult populations. Our evaluation has three parts: 1) a scoping review of the latest literature, 2) comparison of the prevalences presented in different international databases, and 3) a case study using data from Finland.ResultsLiterature shows that comparability of estimated outcomes for health indicators using different data sources such as self-reported questionnaire data from surveys, measured data from surveys or data from administrative health registers, varies between indicators. Also, the case study from Finland showed that diseases which require regular health care visits such as diabetes, comparability is high while for health outcomes which can remain asymptomatic for a long time such as hypertension, comparability is lower. In different international health related databases, country specific results differ due to variations in the used data sources but also due to differences in indicator definitions.ConclusionsReliable comparison of the health indicators over time and between regions within a country or across the countries requires common indicator definitions, similar data sources and standardized data collection methods.
Highlights
Health indicators are used to monitor the health status and determinants of health of the population and population sub-groups, identify existing or emerging health problems which would require prevention and health promotion activities, help to target health care resources in the most adequate way as well as for evaluation of the success of public health actions both at the national and international level
In this study we will evaluate existing knowledge about comparability of different data sources for the definition of health indicators, compare how selected health indicators presented in different international databases possibly differ, and present the results from a case study from Finland on comparability of health indicators derived from different data sources at national level
Scoping review The scoping review focused on differences in the obtained prevalence estimates for obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and asthma when derived from different data sources for same population (Appendix 2)
Summary
Health indicators are used to monitor the health status and determinants of health of the population and population sub-groups, identify existing or emerging health problems which would require prevention and health promotion activities, help to target health care resources in the most adequate way as well as for evaluation of the success of public health actions both at the national and international level. The WHO Global action plan for prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in 2013–2020 has explicitly defined targets related to harmful use of alcohol, physical inactivity, tobacco use, obesity, hypertension, and diabetes, and it promotes monitoring of these indicators [3, 4]. It has provided definitions for these indicators and recommendations for data sources to ensure comparability of the results between countries
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