“The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is the lead Federal agency charged with improving the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care for all Americans. As one of 12 agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services, AHRQ supports health services research that will improve the quality of health care and promote evidence-based decision making.” (Source: AHRQ) Surveys available from this site include: Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP)
The Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) is the world’s largest archive of computer readable social science data. ICPSR provides Web access to data files and documentation for use with statistical software, such as SAS, SPSS, and Stata. The ICPSR data holdings contain some 6,300 studies and 500,000 files that cover a wide range of social science areas such as population, economics, education, health, social and political behavior, social and political attitudes, history, crime, aging, and substance abuse. Individual registration and adherence to responsible use statement are required.
In the areas of health some of the historical surveys available include the National Health Interview Survey, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, Mexican Health and Aging Study and many, many more
A great starting point for researching publicly available datasets on health in the United States. PDF’s, downloadable micro-data, and various data access tools are the many means available here to obtain datasets
“The State and Local Area Integrated Telephone Survey (SLAITS) collects important health care data at State and local levels. This data collection mechanism was developed by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It supplements current national data collection strategies by providing in-depth State and local area data to meet various program and policy needs in an ever-changing health care system.” Data available here however tends to be national in scope. “A partial list of examples of research areas include health insurance coverage, access to care, perceived health status, utilization of services, and measurement of child well-being.”
“The World Health Organization is the United Nations specialized agency for health. It was established on 7 April 1948. WHO's objective, as set out in its Constitution, is the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health.” (Source: World Health Organization) Data available for the 192 countries covered by WHO include information on diseases, vital statistics, health, and more. Historical data is somewhat spotty but an online query tool allows researchers to download datasets to Excel.
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URL: http://www.lib.unc.edu/reference/datafind/index.html?display=print_items&item_id=221
This page was last updated Monday, March 26, 2007.
