Use of Community-Level Health Statistics to Address Health Disparities

Accurate, timely and locally relevant health statistics are critical for community-based research and prevention programs, policy development, and evaluation. This presentation illustrates application examples of small area estimation methods in processing statewide community-level health statistics, and the use of community-level data to assist prevention program planning and evaluation. We will discuss critical issues in this area of research, including a) defining community that is relevant to community-based research and policy making, and understanding the needs of community-based research and public health practice at both the local and state levels, b) identifying and integrating multiple-level data available from multiple disciplines and multiple sources, c) constructing small area estimation models for community-level prevalence estimates, d) identifying geographic and socioeconomic disparities using the derived data, and f) creating novel methods for effective communication of these data and for prioritizing localities or topics for community-based research and public health prevention. Practical examples include evaluation of prevalence of adult obesity, cigarette smoking, fruit and vegetable intake, and lack of physical exercise in Massachusetts. We conclude the presentation by general discussions on the advantages and pitfalls of the methods, and future research directions.