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Summary of Notifiable Diseases
United States 2000
Interpreting Data
Data reported in the Summary are useful for
analyzing disease trends and determining relative disease burdens.
However, data must be interpreted in light of reporting practices.
Certain diseases that cause severe clinical illness (e.g., plague and
rabies) are most likely reported accurately if they are diagnosed by
a clinician. However, persons who have diseases that are clinically
mild and infrequently associated with serious consequences (e.g., salmonellosis)
might not seek medical care from a health-care provider. Even if these
less severe diseases are diagnosed, they are less likely to be reported.
The degree of completeness of data reporting also is
influenced by the diagnostic facilities available; control measures
in effect; public awareness of a specific disease; and interests, resources,
and priorities of state and local officials responsible for disease
control and public health surveillance. Finally, factors such as changes
in case definitions for public health surveillance, introduction of
new diagnostic tests, or discovery of new disease entities can cause
changes in disease reporting that are independent of the true incidence
of disease.
Public health surveillance data are published for selected
racial and ethnic population groups because these variables can be
risk markers for certain notifiable diseases. Risk markers can identify
potential risk factors for investigation in future studies. Race and
ethnicity data also can be used to target populations for prevention
efforts. However, caution must be used when drawing conclusions from
reported race and ethnicity data. Certain racial/ethnic population
groups have differential patterns of access to health care, potentially
resulting in data that are not representative of disease incidence
in these populations.
In addition, not all race and ethnicity data are collected
uniformly for all diseases. For example, in NCHSTP, the Division of
HIV/AIDS Prevention — Surveillance and Epidemiology and the Division
of Sexually Transmitted Diseases Prevention collect race/ethnicity
data using a single variable. A person's race/ethnicity is reported
as American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian/Pacific Islander, black non-Hispanic,
white non-Hispanic, or Hispanic. Additionally, although the recommended
standard for classifying a person's race or ethnicity is based on self-reporting,
this procedure might not always be followed. |
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