Innos K, Rahu M
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Institute of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, Tallinn, Estonia.
J Epidemiol Biostat. 2000;5(5):293-302.
Central and Eastern European countries offer opportunities for studying the health effects of historical and present exposures, as well as the transition to a market economy. A prerequisite for research is the availability of good-quality information. This study was undertaken to describe sources of individual data that are available for epidemiological research in Estonia. Particular attention was paid to the methods of operation of health registries.
Information was collected during site visits, interviews with registry personnel and from published reports. For health registries, information was specifically requested on data collection, scope of recorded data, quality control, electronic linkage capability and use of data in research.
The authors describe 35 data sources containing individual information on vital status, mortality, morbidity, natality and women's health, health and health care, and occupation. The most important health registries are the cancer registry, with data from 1968, and the medical birth registry, with data from 1992. Computerised cause-of-death information is available from 1983. Electronic linkage can be done with most of the data sources, the main matching variable being the eleven-digit personal identification number. Factors potentially affecting data-quality in health registries are undefined legal basis, scarcity of funding and staff, poor acknowledgement of problems, and rare scientific use of registry
Various data sources are available for epidemiological research in Estonia. Thus far, collected data have largely been an under-used scientific resource. In health registries, more attention should be paid to quality control and continuous involvement of researchers.
中东欧国家为研究历史和当前暴露因素对健康的影响以及向市场经济转型提供了机会。开展研究的一个前提条件是要有高质量的信息。本研究旨在描述爱沙尼亚可用于流行病学研究的个体数据来源。特别关注了健康登记处的运作方法。
通过实地考察、与登记处人员访谈以及查阅已发表报告来收集信息。对于健康登记处，特别询问了数据收集、记录数据范围、质量控制、电子链接能力以及研究中数据的使用情况。
作者描述了35个包含有关生命状况、死亡率、发病率、出生率、妇女健康、健康与医疗保健以及职业等个体信息的数据来源。最重要的健康登记处是癌症登记处（有1968年以来的数据）和医疗出生登记处（有1992年以来的数据）。自1983年起可获得计算机化的死因信息。大多数数据来源都可以进行电子链接，主要匹配变量是11位个人识别码。健康登记处中可能影响数据质量的因素包括法律依据不明确、资金和人员短缺、对问题认识不足以及登记处的科学应用较少。
爱沙尼亚有各种数据来源可用于流行病学研究。迄今为止，所收集的数据在很大程度上一直是未充分利用的科学资源。在健康登记处，应更加关注质量控制以及研究人员的持续参与。
