Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #114234

Joshua Vest, MPH¹, Carlos Castillo-Salgado, MD, DrPH², and Adolfo Valadez, MD, MPH¹. (1) Austin / Travis County Health & Human Services Department, 15 Waller St., RBJ Building, Austin, TX 78702, (2) Special Program for Health Analysis, Pan American Health Organization, 525 23rd Street, N. W., Washington, DC 20037, 202 974-3327, castillc@paho.org

Local health departments are charged with reducing disease burden and disparities. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) developed the Healthy Condition Index to identify and prioritize geographically defined populations for public health intervention. The PAHO index combines selected discordant measures from different domains into a single standard index. The purpose of this analysis was to apply a modified version of the PAHO index to a small (county level) area utilizing relevant, readily available, and free data sources at the local level. Zip code level rates and percentages were calculated for several measures across the following domains: health care access, demographics, socio-economic standing, infectious disease morbidity, environmental factors and mortality. Sources included disease surveillance, vital statistics, census, healthcare resources, and environmental data. If necessary data were geocoded and assigned zip codes. Each measure was standardized to a Z-score. A permutation type algorithm was used to generate models of summed Z-scores containing every possible combination of measures while including only one measure from each domain. Models were not included if any of the measures had a correlation co-efficient of more than 0.5. The mean Healthy Condition Index was calculated from all included models. Mapped mean Healthy Condition Index scores indicated areas of higher health need in Travis County. The resulting map of overall health disparities has proven to be an effective communication tool. Results are utilized for justification of resource allocation on a geographical basis and determining which portions of the county are targeted for interventions.

Learning Objectives: "At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to

• describe the PAHO Healthy Condition Index
• identify local data for use in priority setting
• construct the Healthy Condition Index for their population

Keywords: Geographic Information Systems, Local Public Health Agencies

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.