Health Data Communication Launched
Welcome to the inaugural issue of Kansas Health Statistics, an effort to keep health data users informed about research and data trends. The Bureau of Public Health Informatics - the repository for much of this data - is proud to serve as a resource for health professionals.We have a wealth of data. Many are using it to benefit the health of Kansans. We hope to share with you what BPHI - through the Health Care Database, Kansas Health Insurance Information System, Vital Statistics Data Analysis, and Occupational Injury Surveillance - is doing with the data collected. We also want to share with you information on the work of other researchers who use our data.
While we'll be mailing the first issues of Kansas Health Statistics, our long term goal is to e-mail the newsletter to you. If you are interested in e-mail delivery when it's implemented, e-mail: Kansas.Health.Statistics@kdheks.gov.
Drop us a note if you are using health care data. We'd like to share your
findings with others In Kansas.
Bureau of Public Health Informatics
Unintended Poisonings Analyzed
Unintentional poisonings accounted for 358 deaths to Kansas residents between 1989 and 1997 (Figure1).
Of the total, 236 (66.0 percent) resulted from unintentional overdoses or drugs taken in error. The remaining deaths occurred as a result of unintentional poisonings by other solids, liquids, and gases (Figure 3).
The data are part of an analysis prepared by the Bureau of Public Health Informatics. The Bureau's Office of Vital Statistics receives death certificates and the Office of Health Assessment produces reports on public health trends from statistical analyses of certificate data.
Individuals 30 to 39 years of age accounted for 111 (31.0 percent) of the unintentional poisoning deaths in the nine-year period (Figure 2). The second highest group with 69 deaths (19.3 percent) was individuals 40 to 49. Infants and children (ages 0-9) accounted for just eight (2.2 percent) unintentional poisoning deaths.
The highest number of deaths due to unintentional poisonings by drugs involved
local anaesthetics that work on the central or autonomic nervous system. Over
the period, 42 persons (11.7 percent) died from unintended uses of drugs like
cocaine or lidocaine.
Drugs affecting the cardiovascular system accounted for 24 deaths (6.7 percent). Unintended use of opiates and related narcotics resulted in 18 deaths (5.0 percent).
Based on the limited death certificate information, it can't be determined whether these deaths involved illegal drug-use or an overdose of prescribed medications. Suicide-related drug overdoses were not part the analysis.
Unintentional poisonings from carbon monoxide (CO); utility gases, like liquified petroleum gas (LPG); and other gases claimed 80 people (22.3 percent). Exhaust gases from non-moving motor vehicles was responsible for 42 (11.7 percent ) unintended poisoning deaths. Another 23 persons (6.4 percent) died from utility gases, the incomplete combustion of those gases or unspecified carbon monoxide.
During the nine-year period, 41 Kansas counties did not record a single unintentional poisoning death. The largest number of deaths, 89 (24.9 percent), occurred to Sedgwick County residents. The 40 deaths (11.2 percent) to Wyandotte County residents was second highest.
Mortality data collected by KDHE are just the tip of the iceberg. Kansas hospitals annually treat hundreds more poisonings. Poison control centers handle thousands more.
A preliminary count of 1998 unintended poisoning deaths indicates 58 were reported to Kansas residents in 1998.
Greg Crawford
Vital Statistics Data Analysis
Preliminary Abortion Report IssuedThe Bureau of Public Health Informatics has completed Abortions in Kansas 1998, Preliminary Report. The report is a summary of data collected on the 11,624 abortions reported last year (figure 4). The report is the first to include data collected in accordance with changes the 1998 Legislature made to the abortion reporting system.
Kansas women received 6,440 abortions with out-of-state residents obtaining
5,184. Almost one-third (32.3%) of the abortions involved women 20-24 years
of age. Over half the abortions (58.5%) occurred at less than 9 weeks gestation,
almost one-fourth (24.4%) at 9-12 weeks gestation. Five hundred eighty-six
(5.1%) of the abortions occurred at 22 weeks or more.
Almost two-thirds (63.8%) of the women receiving abortions reported no prior
terminations. One-fourth of the women reported one prior abortion.
Of the abortions performed at 22 weeks or more, 227 occurred after July 1, 1998, when the new reporting statute required additional information. One hundred thirty-six of the 227 terminations involved non-viable fetuses. Fifty-eight of the terminations involved partial birth procedures.
The complete summary of abortion data will be included in the 1998 Annual
Summary of Vital Statistics, published later this year. A copy of the
report is available from the Bureau's Office of Health Assessment.
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Health Care Data Uses Data compiled by the Bureau of Public Health Informatics are used by a number of organizations to produce a variety of reports. Here's a sampling of recent uses:
The U.S. Social Security Administration is studying marriages, divorces, and
annulments using data supplied by the Bureau of Public Health Informatics. This pilot project will compare Kansas data with SSA data on individuals
receiving SSA entitlements. Marriages status can affect the receipt of these
benefits. One of the reasons Kansas data were selected was completeness of
the state's data.
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Health Care Database Providing Service
The Kansas Legislature created the Health Care Database to provide consumers, third-party payers, providers, and health care planners with information regarding Kansas trends in use and cost of health care services. The Bureau provides staff support for the database.
The Health Care Data Governing Board, established to oversee the database, implemented In 1995 its first data collection initiative: a health system inventory which compiles and centralizes data collected on 33 health care occupations from eight credentialing boards.
The inventory's purpose is twofold: to make health data more available to the public and to study health occupational distribution in order to determine availability and accessibility of Kansas health care professionals.
A variety of groups have used data collected for the Health Care Database. Over 500 data requests have been filled since the database's creation.
Early on, government agencies were the most frequent data users, Now, non-government entities (i.e.,businesses and universities) are responsible account for over half the data requests (Figure 5). Others include: Federal agencies, hospitals, non-profit organizations, media, local health departments, legislators, physicians, other providers, and the public.
Data has been used for license status validation, resource distribution and workforce projections, grant writing, resource allocation, recruitment, policy development, community health assessment, medically underserved area designation, licen-sure verification, and service delivery planning.
Additionally, information extracted from the Health Care Database has helped the Governing Board to identify important issues.
Kansas ranks 16th nationally for having the fewest number of persons per Emergency Medical Service (EMS) attendant, indicating a possible need for expanded EMS staffing and training to address the emergency needs of Kansans. The database tracks the number, type and distribution of Kansas emergency medical service providers.
Declining numbers of Licensed Mental Health Technicians (LMHTs). The decline in recent years is due to state hospital reductions and closings. The database includes the number and distribution of Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioners (ARNPs), Registered Nurses (RNs), Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) and LMHTs
Most ARNPs, RNs and LMHTs resided or worked in metropolitan locations, whereas most LPNs reported non-metropolitan locations. Among nursing professionals, the only category containing a majority of males is Registered Nurse Anesthetists who are licensed as ARNPs.
Eleven Kansas non-metropolitan counties have no optometrists. The database tracks statewide, full-time equivalency (FTE) distribution of optometrists.
Nearly half of Kansas' 4,218 active physicians, reported having primary care specialties in 1995. FTE distributions are now available for Kansas physicians. During that year an estimated of 1,538 FTE Primary Care physician service hours were provided.
The capacity to calculate FTEs is being developed for numerous other occupations. Practice hours, locations, and specialties are being collected for mental health professionals, dentists, physical therapists, and others.
Other Health Care Data Governing Board data initiatives include:
- development of a set of Kansas health status indicators,
- determining the extent of managed care in Kansas,
- monitoring the effect of the HealthWave program,
- improvement of external cause of injury coding in Kansas Hospital Discharge and outpatient data systems, and
- preparation of an Internet based clearing house containing information on government funded health research.
The Board's web site, http://:www.ink.org/public/hcdgb, makes a number of data products available:
- Health Care Data Governing Board Annual reports
- Health System Inventory publications
- Kansas Health Data Resource Directory
- The Most Frequent Inpatient Conditions treated in Community Hospitals 1993-1994
Health Care Data Section
Occupational Fatality Report Issued
The Bureau of Public Health Informatics has released Fatal Occupational Injuries, Kansas, 1997.The report, compiled from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI)
for Kansas, provides statistical and descriptive summary data on 93 work-related
deaths that occurred in 1997. That figure is 9.4 percent higher than 1996
(Figure 6).
Kansas' most hazardous industry in 1997 was once again the agriculture, forestry
& fishing industry (Table 1).
The event or exposure describes the manner in which the injury or illness was produced or inflicted by that source. Among the various categories of events or exposures transportation incidents were the most frequently occurring, and accounted for 57 occupational deaths.
Over half, or 30 of the 57 deaths were highway accidents, with almost all involving trucks of various types. Farming and industrial premises accidents accounted for 11 fatal work-related transportation accidents, eight involving tractors.
Other transportation incidents and the number of deaths for each were railway
accidents (7), motor vehicle-pedestrian (6), and aircraft accidents (3).
Some of the other events and exposures identified and the number of
deaths for each were: contact with objects and/or equipment (15), caught in
or compressed by equipment or objects (7), struck by an object (6), and assaults
and violent acts (5), and explosions (4).
Wage and salary workers made up 61 percent of those fatally injured in occupational accidents in the state in 1997; the remaining 39 percent were self-employed. The occupational categories of the victims and number of deaths in each are as follows: operators, fabricators, and laborers (34), farming, forestry and fishing industry (24), precision production, craft and repair (18), managerial and professional specialties (9), technical sales and administrative support (5), and service occupations (3).
More than nine out of ten (92 percent) fatally injured workers were men. Differences in the industries where men and women typically work would account for men being fatally injured more often than women. Almost all (95 percent) of the Kansas workers that were killed were white. Forty-three percent, were between the ages 35 and 54.
The report is available through the Office of Health Assessment.
Occupational Injury Surveillance
Vital Statistics Director Named
Gabe Faimon is the Bureau's new Director of Vital Statistics and assistant state registrar. Mr. Faimon was previously employed by the Kansas Adjutant General's office and the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services. He replaces Charlene (Satzler) Robuck who retired after 33 years of state service.As director of Vital Statistics, Mr. Faimon is responsible for the collection
and distribution of hundreds of thousands of vital records reported to the
state annually.
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BPHI Organizational Structure
The Bureau of Public Health Informatics is a division of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. Its two offices, Vital Statistics and Health Care Information, collect, house, and disseminate health care data.Vital Statistics receives reports of vital events, certifies those events, and provides certified copies of those records.
The data - compiled from those records (births, deaths, marriages and marriage dissolutions), abortion reports, health care data, occupational injury and illness surveys, and the Kansas Health Insurance Information System - are housed within the Office of Health Assessment.
BPHI contacts are:
| Lorne A. Phillips, PhD | 785-296-1415 | State Registrar & Acting Director of Health |
| Elizabeth W. Saadi, PhD | 785-296-8627 | Acting Director BPHI & Director Office of Health Assessment |
| Gabe Faimon | 785-296-1417 | Director, Office of Vital Statistics |
| Greg Crawford | 785-296-1531 | Births, deaths, abortions, marriages, marriage dissolutions |
| Charlie Crevoiserat | 785-296-5641 | Occupational injuries, illnesses, and fatalities |
| Rachel Lindbloom | 785-296-8627 | health care database, health system inventory, discharge data |
The BPHI web site is http://www.kdheks.gov/ches/. Data reports are posted to http://www.kdheks.gov/hci/ or the Governing Board's site, http://www.accesskansas.org/hcdgb/.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment's Bureau of Public Health Informatics produces Kansas Health Statistics to inform the public about the availability and uses of health data. Material in this publication is in the public domain and may be reproduced without special permission. Please credit Kansas Health Statistics, KDHE Bureau of Public Health Informatics. Send comments, questions, and address changes to OHA, 1000 SW Jackson, Topeka, KS, 66612, call 785-296-8627 or e-mail Kansas Health Statistics. Clyde Graeber, Secretary; Lorne A. Phillips, PhD, State Registrar; Elizabeth W. Saadi, PhD, Acting Director BPHI.