Health statistics are used to understand risk factors for communities, track and monitor diseases, see the impact of policy changes, and assess the quality and safety of health care.
Evidence varies in quality and whether it is applicable to a given situation.
Health statistics measure four types of information. The types are commonly referred to as the four Cs:
Correlates. Are the risk factors that impact our health. They include social and economic factors, physical factors, and personal behaviors
Conditions. Are the most common types of health statistics. There are two ways to measure health conditions. Two ways to measure health conditions are the prevalence (the proportion of a population with a specific disease or condition) and the incidence (the number of new cases of a disease in a given population) of the disease.
Care. Inform about the state of health care systems and services. These include but not limited to who has access to health care, quality of care what data is collected about patients, diagnoses, and medications.
Costs. Refers to the economic and societal costs of health care and poor health.