Question

Explain how risk factor information systems complement vital statistics systems and primary scientific research. What has driven the need for risk factor information systems in the last century?

Answer 1

Ans) Risk factors are information systems monitor the prevalence of specific antecedents of premature disease and death. These systems focus on tracking behaviors, conditions, and exposures to increase awareness of the burden of disease in a community, support prioritization of public health resources, and allow measurement of the effectiveness of prevention programs. Some systems are designed to produce national or regional estimates, while others have a more local, community focus; some systems cover a broad range of health risk factors across all demographic groups, while others focus on a small number of disease-specific exposures in special populations; some systems require only subjective responses, while others collect additional measurements of the body and biological assays.

- For centuries, scientists have used vital statistics systems as primary data sources to study trends in morbidity and mortality. In the early 1500s, as a means of warning the public about local plagues, parish clerks in London began weekly postings of deaths and their causes, which came to be known as the Bills of Mortality. In the 1600s, John Graunt (a haberdasher by trade) became fascinated with demographic patterns in these “lists of the dead,” and published his Natural and Political Observations Made upon the Bills of Mortality. His work was notable for a number of innovations, including the creation of “life tables” (charts of survivorship based on age) and frequency summaries by cause of death—spurring greater interest in the systematic capture and use of these data.

- The practice of public health continued to evolve, driven in part by the effective use of vital statistics and other mortality data to characterize and prevent premature death. Over time, public health practitioners developed important health indicators from these data, such as mortality rates and years of potential life lost (YPLL), that continue to be used to communicate and assess the severity of important public health problems in the modern era. By the start of the twentieth century, the public health community had recognized that vital statistics and other mortality data lacked the breadth, depth, and to effectively detect, describe, and respond timeliness to modern threats to the public’s health, as increasing focus was placed on mitigating the antecedent behaviors, conditions, and exposures (hereafter referred to as risk factors) that strongly influence future disease, disability, and death.