NCHStats

Are you looking for statistics on the health of U.S. children? You may want to check out the site for the National Survey of Children’s Health, a project of the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative. You can search the 2007 data set by clicking here. Or, you can find out more about the the Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health by visiting their website.

This past February, NCHS released its annual report on the nation’s health, Health, United States, 2008. This report contained a wealth of information on a wide variety of health topics, as well as a special feature on the health of young adults aged 18-29.

This report can serve as a unique resource for reporters, pointing them in the direction of the information they need. At the bottom of each trend table is a “SOURCE,” which identifies the agency and survey from which the data came. This can be useful in finding more recent data from the correct source.

To access this comprehensive report, visit http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/hus.htm. This is a large file, so it may take a few minutes to download. The report is also available in print format and can be requested through the NCHS Office of Public Affairs.

Today, NCHS is releasing “The National Nursing Home Survey: 2004 Overview.” This report examines data from the survey and highlights key findings related to the quality of care, including advance directives, emergency care, and medications taken by nursing home residents. The data highlights include the following:

• In 2004, there were 1.7 million nursing home beds in the United States compared with 1.9 million beds in 1999.

• The number of nursing home residents decreased from 1.6 million in 1999 to 1.5 million in 2004.

• Mental disorders were the second leading primary diagnosis among residents at the time of interview (22%). This represents more than a 20-percent increase over the 1999 estimate, when 18% of nursing home residents had a primary diagnosis for a mental disorder at the time of interview.

• Almost 9 percent of current residents had a fall reported in the 30 days prior to the facility interview.

• About 65 percent of current nursing home residents had at least one type of advance directive.

• In the 90 days prior to the facility interview, almost 11 percent of current nursing home residents had at least one hospitalization or emergency department visit while in the care of the nursing home.

For more information or to speak with one of the report’s authors, please contact the NCHS Press Office at 301-458-4800. The report can be accessed at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_13/sr13_167.pdf.

A new Health E-Stat from the National Center for Health Statistics provides estimates of emergency department (ED) capacity. The role of EDs has expanded over the past few decades from treating seriously ill and injured patients to providing urgent unscheduled care to patients unable to gain timely access to their doctors. As the ED begins to “board” patients, the space, the staff, and the resources available to treat new patients are further reduced.

A consequence of overcrowded emergency departments (EDs) is ambulance diversion, in which EDs close their doors to incoming ambulances. The resulting treatment delay can be catastrophic for the patient, but approximately 500,000 ambulances are diverted annually in the United States (i.e., one ambulance diversion per minute).

For more information, visit the Health E-Stat at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/hestats/ed_capacity/ED_capacity.pdf.