Costruzione di un sistema di dati integrato e suo utilizzo in ambito sanitario

In the field of healthcare, programming is of vital importance for the future development of health system with regard to the scarcity of resources and to the increasing needs of the population. Routinely and systematically collected health-related information represents a major potential within epidemiology, since it refers to a volume of population that can achieve a considerable size. Besides, the bigger the impact of data on management process, the better the quality. Health data storage is unevenly distributed among public health authorities and undergoes specific national and regional regulations, with current limitation of this information being separately organized and managed. The present paper has the following major objectives: the development of an “Integrated Epidemiological System” (IES) of health surveillance, the application of IES to different local authorities (municipal, local corporate and regional) and the evaluation of its reproducibility and application in terms of prevention and therapy. A thorough description is provided about the construction phases, consisting in supply, data quality evaluation, record linkage of archives with sanitary registers and in frequency estimates production. Design and application of various algorithms suitable for frequency estimates production and the health profile description of subjects living in the analyzed geographical areas are particularly emphasised. The sources used are sanitary registers, mortality data, hospital discharge forms, pharmaceutical prescriptions, ticket exemptions and immunization registries. Such sources are differently utilised in the three application experiences. Collected data are applied to all residents and longitudinal cohorts (elderly and children) are built. Results indicate the possibility of applying IES to the definition of a community health profile and its utilisation as a tool for the assessment of preventive and therapeutical programmes. In this paper, results achieved in the three applications are provided in detail. ...