TY - JOUR
T1 - Health indicators in the European regions - ISARE II
AU - Wilkinson, John
AU - Berghmans, Luc
AU - Imbert, Fréderic
AU - Ledésert, Bernard
AU - Ochoa, André
AU - Badeyan, Gérard
AU - Berguristain Aranzasti, José Maria
AU - Bertinato, Luigi
AU - Brand, Helmut
AU - Fontaine, Danièle
AU - Gisser, Richard
AU - Holland, Susanne
AU - Kardasis, Stamatios
AU - Koskinen, Seppo
AU - Kounalakis, Dimitri
AU - Kramers, Pieter
AU - Padilla, Isabel Larranga
AU - Lionis, Christos
AU - McCarthy, Tim
AU - Montserrat, Antoni
AU - Pitard, Alexandre
AU - Roulleaux, Mady
AU - Sicard, Frédéric
AU - Solomita, Giuseppe
AU - Tavares, Fernando
AU - Trugeon, Alain
AU - Yared, Wendy Tse
AU - Van Veldhuizen, Harriet
AU - Weber, Guy
AU - Zwakhals, Laurens
PY - 2008/4
Y1 - 2008/4
N2 - Background: Most comparisons of health data in Europe take place at the national level. However, there is increased interest in looking at health data at a sub-national level. This is because of the increased importance in many European countries, of regions and devolved powers to them. This study aimed to establish the availability of health data at a regional level and to construct an experimental database. Methods: Using a network of country correspondents, data were collected on a series of topics from all the regions of that country. In addition, a supplementary list of data was collected from one region of each country. Results: Out of the then 15 Member States of the European Union (EU), 14 countries participated in the study. Thirteen countries were able to supply data. Where data were available, using the criteria we developed, these were of relatively good quality. Data on mortality was most readily available, but data on the important public health topics such as obesity was much more difficult to obtain, and absent in many cases. Conclusions: It is possible to construct a database and a resultant set of indicators for relevant sub-national areas of Member States in the EU. This is not likely to be achieved through current routine data collection systems unless significant changes are made to the data collection processes such as those undertaken by Eurostat. There is, also, an urgent need to introduce comprehensive sub-national data collections on important public health topics such as obesity and smoking.
AB - Background: Most comparisons of health data in Europe take place at the national level. However, there is increased interest in looking at health data at a sub-national level. This is because of the increased importance in many European countries, of regions and devolved powers to them. This study aimed to establish the availability of health data at a regional level and to construct an experimental database. Methods: Using a network of country correspondents, data were collected on a series of topics from all the regions of that country. In addition, a supplementary list of data was collected from one region of each country. Results: Out of the then 15 Member States of the European Union (EU), 14 countries participated in the study. Thirteen countries were able to supply data. Where data were available, using the criteria we developed, these were of relatively good quality. Data on mortality was most readily available, but data on the important public health topics such as obesity was much more difficult to obtain, and absent in many cases. Conclusions: It is possible to construct a database and a resultant set of indicators for relevant sub-national areas of Member States in the EU. This is not likely to be achieved through current routine data collection systems unless significant changes are made to the data collection processes such as those undertaken by Eurostat. There is, also, an urgent need to introduce comprehensive sub-national data collections on important public health topics such as obesity and smoking.
KW - European Union
KW - Health indicators
KW - Regions
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=40849083567&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/eurpub/ckm088
DO - 10.1093/eurpub/ckm088
M3 - Article
C2 - 17766265
AN - SCOPUS:40849083567
SN - 1101-1262
VL - 18
SP - 178
EP - 183
JO - European Journal of Public Health
JF - European Journal of Public Health
IS - 2
ER -