Public Health Data Resources

This page describes a selection of public health related data resources. Included are sources of raw data as well as extractable data from websites or downloadable programs.

Data Sources are basically available in two "flavors."

I. Raw Data that must be manipulated with statistical programs

A. Multi-Subject Archives
B. Government Agencies and Miscellaneous

II. Extractable Data from Web Sites or Media (Usually CD-ROMS)

I. Sources of Raw Data:

A. Multi-Subject Archives

1. CDE and CDHA Data Library. This data is available to you if you are affiliated with the Center for Demography and Ecology or Center for Demography of Health and Aging. If you are working for a professor who is affiliated, then you are affiliated. You will need a log-in to our machines to access our data. I can help you do this. To find out more about our holdings see our web based data catalog (CDECAT) at:

http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/cde/library/info.htm

Click on "CDECAT" in the left frame.

Here you can browse or search our data holdings of over 1,600 datasets. While we are not primarily a public health data library, we have many holdings that deal with public health. The CDE Data Library collection can be searched or browsed by title

(http://cdewinnt.ssc.wisc.edu/star/title.html)

or by acquistion number

(http://cdewinnt.ssc.wisc.edu/star/acqnm.html)

Aquisition number browsing is a good way to keep up to date with the latest data acquisitions. Almost all data sets have either print or electronic (or both) documentation that can be accessed according to the acquistion number.

A number of National Center for Health Statistics Mortality and Natality Detail files (SAS transport format) are available at the CDE public FTP site:

http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/cde/library/cdeftp.htm

Scroll to the bottom of the page and agree to the NCHS data disclaimer before downloading data and documentation.

2. Data and Program Library Service
(http://dpls.dacc.wisc.edu/)

This Library, although not affiliated with the General Library System, can be thought of as the "Memorial Library" for Data. To see their medicine and health related holdings, see:

http://dpls.dacc.wisc.edu/newcatalog/subject.asp?code=QG

They also have a searchable catalog at:

http://dpls.dacc.wisc.edu/newcatalog/index.asp

They are the campus Official Representative of the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research at the University of Michigan, the largest data archive in the world. More on that below. "The materials held by the DPLS may be used free of charge by all students, staff and faculty of the UW-Madison."

3. Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR)--University of Michigan
(http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/)

What is available: Electronic data, some data on media, descriptive metadata, electronic and/or online documentation (codebooks, data dictionaries, etc.), program data definition statements. Note that documentation and data definition statement electronic availability varies by data set.
Restrictions: Most data is restricted to organizational or individual subscriptions. ICPSR does, however, provide selected data and all electronic documentation free of charge.

ICPSR is the largest archive of social science data in the world, with thousands of studies in eighteen major subject areas. Holdings can be searched or browsed. The great power of ICPSR is not simply the availability of data sets (in compressed and uncompressed format), but the availability of ancillary information such as data definition statements, and exhaustive descriptive metadata about data sets. ICPSR also has subsets of subject specific data arranged into archives in the fields of education, aging, criminal justice, and substance abuse & metal health (see below). The archive can be browsed or searched by keyword (three fields or study number). The best place to look for ICPSR health or medical related data is:

A.. Health Care and Facilities Subject Browse Archive
(http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/access/subject.html#IX)

B. Topical Archives which are a subset of the main collection. The most relevant of these are:

1. Health and Medical Care Archive
(http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/HMCA/)

2. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Data Archive (SAMHDA)
(http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/SAMHDA/l)

3. National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging (NACDA)
(http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/NACDA/)

Since A and #B above are subsets of the larger ICPSR collection, users who are looking for specific surveys can also consult the search page for ICPSR's data.

http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/access/index.html

4. The Center for Electronic Records--National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
(http://www.nara.gov/nara/electronic/homensx.html)

Cost: Yes. Fee is based on the medium and the number of reels, CD-ROMS, disks, etc. Ordering information (http://www.nara.gov/nara/electronic/orderinf.html) is available.
What is available: Data on media, print documentation (available on a cost recovery basis, see order information).
Restrictions: Users should read NARA's usage policy (http://www.archives.gov/research_room/center_for_electronic_records/frequently_asked_questions.html) for more information.

NARA's CER contains electronic records arranged by agencies of the US government. The title list is the easiest means of access to its holdings. Data are on various media (mostly 9-track and 3480 tapes, CD-ROMS or diskettes). Almost all data from NARA is made available in uncompressed format. Users must order the data they are interested in, the media it is to be delivered on, and the accompanying documentation. Data is available from eighteen major agencies in the three branches of government. Holdings can be browsed but not searched. There is little descriptive information about the data. Note that the title list is only a partial listing of all CER's holdings. Users should contact the center for more information. Contact information is available at the bottom of the title list. NARA is an agency to search for data when you cannot find it anywhere else. Since its catalog is arranged by agency, some relevant agencies to browse are:

Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), which includes CDC (Centers for Disease Control), NIH (National Institutes of Health), Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (HCPR), and Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).
(http://www.archives.gov/research_room/center_for_electronic_records/health_and_human_services.html)

5. Socionet--Sociometrics
(http://www.socio.com/)

Cost: Yes.
What is available: Downloadable or CD-ROM data, program command statements, electronic SPSS dictionary, printed user's guide (codebook), data set descriptions, and other ancillary services, depending on the data set or data archive.
Restrictions: Depends on the data set.

Sociometrics provides data in six major areas: sexuality, health & adolescence; family; social research on aging; drug abuse; AIDS/STD; and disability. Each data set contains descriptive information. Studies can be searched or browsed. More than 350 studies are available.

6. Carolina Population Center Research Projects--University of North Carolina
(http://www.cpc.unc.edu/projects/projects.html)

Cost: No, except for the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (ADD Health).
What is available: Electronic and/or CD-ROM based data, electronic codebooks and questionnaires, description of studies.
Restrictions: Varies by study, from data request forms to parts of ADD Health, which are extremely restricted.

CPC research projects specialize in health and welfare in the East Asia, Russia, and the US. They also include the well known ADD Health Study, a "school-based study of the health-related behaviors of adolescents in grades 7-12." CPC projects include the CEBU Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey (1983-84 and 1991-92), the China Health and Nutrition Survey (1989, 91, and 93), the MEASURE Evaluation Project (data available for several countries at this time), the Nang Rong Projects, the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (ADD Health, two waves available only through Sociometrics (http://www.socio.com/srch/summary/afda2/fam48-50.htm) and the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey. The ADD Health site contains an extensive summary data extraction system. Data is usually available after completing a data request form, and may be available in SAS Export format. Extensive descriptions and metadata are available about each study.

7. Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS+)--Macro International
(http://www.measuredhs.com/)

Cost: No (unless data is ordered on media instead of downloaded).
What is available: Data (downloadable and on various media), electronic documentation (including recode documentation), program data definition files.
Restrictions: Yes, users must register for the data before downloading.

Demographic and Health Surveys, provided by Macro International, "collect information on fertility and family planning, maternal and child health, child survival, AIDS/STIs, and other reproductive health topics. Surveys are implemented by host-country institutions, usually government statistical offices. On average, 4,000 to 8,000 women of childbearing age are interviewed in a standard survey. Many countries also survey men on family planning and health issues." At present data is available for over 50 countries in the developing world. Studies can be browsed only at this time. DHS also provides an extractable table maker (Survey Indicators Stat Compiler--see below under "Extractable Data"

B. Government Agencies

8. National Center for Health Statistics Data Warehouse
(http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/datawh.htm)

Cost: Varies by item, from free to extremely expensive data tapes, but CDE is part of the NCHS data dissemination program so we can get you data for free, based on the reason you need it. Sometimes it takes lots of time, however, and you might be better off trying one of the archives above.
What is available: Public Use Data, detailed statistical tables, charts, tabulated state tables, links to data extractors, electronic ICD files.
Restrictions: Varies.

NCHS Data Warehouse is a veritable gold mine of public health data and information. The key links from this site are the links to the mortality tables (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/datawh/statab/unpubd/mortabs.htm), Adobe Acrobat .pdf tables for each cause of death by age group (tables that are hundreds, and sometimes thousands of pages long; and links to the public use data files (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/datawh/ftpserv/ftpdata/ftpdata.htm), which contain machine readable data and documentation for the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, National Health Interview Survey, National Hospital Discharge Survey, National Home and Hospice Care Survey, National Nursing Home Survey, National Survey of Ambulatory Surgery, NHANES I Epidemiologic Followup Study, National Health Interview Survey, National Survey of Family Growth, and data from the National Vital Statistics System. For data that is available only in media, there are links to information about media and costs.

9. National Cancer Institute Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program 1973-2000 Public-Use Data
(http://seer.cancer.gov/publicdata/options.html)

Cost: Free
What is Available: Incidence Data for Cases Diagnosed 1973 to 2000 in nine SEER registries (2.8 million tumors); Incidence Data for Cases Diagnosed 1992 to 2000 in eleven SEER registries (1.5 million tumors); ncidence Data for Cases Diagnosed 1992 to 2000 in twelve SEER registries (1.5 million tumors); and the associated registry and county level populations, documentation.
Restrictions: Users must sign a non-disclosure agreement.

This is, according to SEER, the most authoritative source of information on cancer incidence and survival in the United States. Also on a separate CD-ROM is SEER-STAT, an extraction program to access the same data.

10. WHO Mortality Database
(http://www3.who.int/whosis/menu.cfm?path=whosis,mort&language=english)

Cost: Free
What is available: Cause of Death Information for over 70 countries going back to the 1950s
Restrictions: None

The World Health Organization provides ASCII data sets broken out by sex and age group in files for ICD 7-10.

11. Pan American Health Organization Links to National Epidemiological Surveillance and Statistical Information Systems
(http://www.paho.org/English/DD/AIS/vigilancia-en.htm)

This link site allows the user to connect to Surveillance and Statistical information in 20 countries in the Americas (not all links are to English language sites).

12. ProMED Mail
(http://www.promedmail.org/)

This program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases is not a database per se, but rather a global electronic reporting system for outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases. A particularly powerful aspect of the site is its "articles, references, and related sites" link page, which connects to surveillance, epidemic, and disease outbreak news from around the world, including WHO Outbreak News, WHO Weekly Epidemiological Record - WER, GIDEON: Global Infectious Disease & EpidemiOlogy Network, and CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports and Emerging Infectious Diseases, among others.

13. Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services Reports and Statistics
(http://www.dhfs.state.wi.us/stats/index.htm)

This site provides statistical reports on various aspects of health information in Wisconsin. It is highlighted by links to vital statistics and the Wisconsin Assessment Information Manager (AIM), a health status data extraction system (see below under data extractors).

II. Extractable data from web sites or media (usually CD-ROMS)

1. CDC Wonder--Centers for Disease Control
(http://wonder.cdc.gov/)

Among the useful vital and health related statistical data sets Wonder provides extraction for are: AIDS Cases Reported by State and Local Health Departments (users can pick demographics, case-definitions, dates of diagnosis, dates of report, HIV exposure group, and mortality); Microfiche AIDS (same as above except users can also pick more detailed geographies); SEER (Cancer Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results) (users can pick geographies, demographics, time periods and disease codes); ICD9 Finder (disease by classification number) (users can search by keyword); State Injury Mortality Data (users can pick geographies and injury type); Mortality (users can pick geographies, demographics, and time periods); Natality (users can pick geographies, demographics, and natality variables, and create two dimensional tables by any of nine variables); Sexually Transmitted Disease Morbidity (users can pick geographies, times, genders, and diseases); and Tuberculosis Surveillance (users can pick geographies, times, demographics, and disease case characteristics). Note that time periods covered vary by database. Summary data are returned. Download options are available. Wonder also hosts many bibliographic databases.

2. CANQUES on the Web--Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)--National Cancer Institute
(http://seer.cancer.gov/canques/)

NCI's Cancer Query System on the Web (CANQUES, available only to browsers that support Java 1.1), "allows the user to access over 10 million pre-calculated cancer statistics. Statistics are available from SEER Cancer Statistics Reviews, 1973-2000. Users can retrieve data related to: SEER Incidence Rates and Trends; US Mortality Rates and Trends; Individual State Mortality Rates; SEER Mortality Rates; Median Age at Diagnosis and Death; NHL and Kaposi's Sarcoma in San Francisco; and Relative Survival Rates by SEER Registry and Historic Stage. Users can pick demographics, geographies (when available), types of cancers, and time periods. Download options are available.

3. FERRET--Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Bureau
(http://ferret.bls.census.gov:80/)

FERRET provides access to the 1993 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) ,the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III (NHANES 1988-1994), and is beginning to provide access to underlying cause of death mortality files. Users can pick variables and selected values. Selected data (raw or SAS data sets) or descriptive statistics can be downloaded. Download options are available. Note that users must register before accessing data. You can also download the DataFerret Java extractor at: (http://dataferrett.census.gov/TheDataWeb/index.html).

4. HIV/AIDS Surveillance Database--Census Bureau
(http://www.census.gov/ftp/pub/ipc/www/hivaidsd.html)

HIV/AIDS Surveillance Database "is a compilation of information from widely scattered small scale surveys on the AIDS pandemic and HIV seroprevalence in developing countries. Currently the database contains around 40,000 individual data records from over 4,000 publications and presentations. The database also includes information from incidence studies." This extraction system requires downloading and installing the database on a local PC. Users can pick geographies from over 160 countries, population subgroup, age and sex. Summary tables and maps are also available.

5. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Data Archive (SAMHDA) Data Analysis System (DAS)--ICPSR
(http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/SAMHDA/das.html)

Health related surveys covered in the SAMHDA DAS include the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, Treatment Episode Data Set, and Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area Drug Study (DC*MADS). Users can pick variables, cases, and get raw data or descriptive statistics. Download options are available.

6. WISQARS: Web-Based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (Centers for Disease Control)
(http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/wisqars/)

This is an interactive system that provides customized injury-related mortality data useful for research and for making informed public health decisions.

7. DHS (Demographic and Health Surveys) STATcompiler (Macro International)
(http://www.measuredhs.com/)

Click on "DHS STATcompiler"

DHS Survey Indicators STATcompiler allows the user to collect indicators from muliple countries into easy to interpret tables. Tables can be manipulated once made, and can be converted to spreadsheet.

8. International Data Base (IDB)--Census Bureau
(http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idbnew.html)

IDB allows the user to pick basic demographic and socio-economic variables for any or all of 227 countries around the world. Summary or detailed data is available from as early as 1950 to projections as late as 2050. In addition, static or "active" population pyramids are available. Users can aggregate selected countries into chosen regions. Countries can be ranked by population for any year from 1950-2050. Download options are available. IDB can also be downloaded and used locally on the PC.

9. Healthy Women: State Trends in Health and Mortality
(http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/healthywomen.htm )

Provided by the National Center for Health Statistics, these tables provide information about health at the state level. Tables can be viewed, manipulated, printed, or downloaded in the Beyond 20/20 format at this time. This format requires the user to download special software from the site. At present, the site contains mostly mortality tables.

10. Wisconsin AIM
(http://www.dhfs.state.wi.us/AIM/index.htm)

"The Wisconsin Assessment Information Manager (AIM) produces pre-defined reports showing key health status indicators for Wisconsin communities. AIM produces information tabulated by age, sex and race, with population rates and statewide comparison numbers, for the following topics: Local demographics, Infant and perinatal health, 42 leading causes of death, Age-adjusted death rates, Expected vs. actual deaths, Premature deaths, and Hospital inpatient utilization." Note that Wisconsin AIM is a software program that must be installed on the PC and also requires Epi Info "the public domain database manager and statistical package developed and supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)."

To CDE Data Resources

Last updated 08/22/2005 by Jack Solock jsolock@ssc.wisc.edu
Special Librarian, CDE Information Services

� 2000 University of Wisconsin Center for Demography and Ecology
http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/cde/library/info.htm

University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Demography and Ecology

University of Wisconsin-Madison
Center for Demography and Ecology