Data Sources for Gender Research - Women's Health Highlights: Recent Findings (continued)

Data Sources for Gender Research
The goal of gender-based research is to improve our understanding about disparities between men and women in the medical care provided and outcomes for certain conditions, most notably cardiovascular disease. A better understanding of the different health care needs and uneven distribution of health care resources across different populations can contribute to improvements in our nation's health care system and help target interventions where they are both needed and likely to have the most positive impact.

•Article describes data sources useful for gender-based research.
The authors describe nine different underused data sources that are useful for gender-based analyses and research. They note that these resources offer great possibilities for future research, particularly with regard to some components of care that are particularly important to women. Moy and Dayton, Women's Health 17:334-337, 2007 (AHRQ Publication No. 08-R048)* (Intramural).

Medical Expenditure Panel Survey

In 1996, AHRQ launched the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), a nationally representative survey to collect detailed information on health status, health care use and expenses, and health insurance coverage for individuals and families in the United States, including nursing home residents. MEPS is helping the Agency to address many questions important to women, including how health insurance coverage, access to care, use of preventive care, the growth of managed care, changes in private health insurance, and other changes in the health care system are affecting the kinds, amounts, and costs of health care services used by women. For more information related to MEPS, go to http://www.meps.ahrq.gov.

Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project

The Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) is a family of health care databases and related software tools and products sponsored by AHRQ and developed through a Federal-State-industry partnership. HCUP includes the largest collection of longitudinal hospital care data in the United States, with all-payer, encounter-level information beginning in 1988. These databases enable research on a broad range of health policy issues that are pertinent to women, including the cost and quality of health services, access to care, and patient outcomes at the national, State, and local levels. HCUP comprises the following databases:

•Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS), with inpatient data from a national sample of over 1,000 hospitals.
•Kids' Inpatient Database (KID), a nationwide sample of pediatric inpatient discharges.
•State Inpatient Databases (SID), which contain the universe of inpatient discharge abstracts from participating States.
•State Ambulatory Surgery Databases (SASD), which contain outpatient data on surgical encounters.
•State Emergency Department Databases (SEDD), which contain data from hospital-affiliated emergency departments.
For more information about HCUP, go to http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov

HIVnet

HIVnet is a tool that provides information on inpatient and outpatient care use by individuals with HIV disease. This information is valuable for service providers, program planners, policymakers, and health services researchers. HIVnet is focused on health services delivery. HIVnet provides easy access to selected statistics on patterns of HIV-related care for all population groups, including women. These statistics are based on data collected by the HIV Research Network (HIVRN). For more information about HIVnet, go to http://www.ahrq.gov/data/hivnet.htm.



More Information
For more information on AHRQ initiatives related to women's health, please contact:

Beth Collins Sharp, Ph.D., R.N.
Senior Advisor, Women's Health and Gender Research
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
540 Gaither Road
Rockville, MD 20850
Telephone: 301-427-1503
E-mail:
Beth.CollinsSharp@ahrq.hhs.gov

For more information about AHRQ and its research portfolio and funding opportunities, visit the Agency's Web site at http://www.ahrq.gov.


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Current as of September 2010
AHRQ Publication No. 10-P005
(Replaces AHRQ Publication No. 09-PB002)


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Internet Citation:

AHRQ Women's Health Highlights: Recent Findings. Program Brief. AHRQ Publication No. 10-P005, September 2010. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/research/womenh1.htm

full-text:
Women's Health Highlights: Recent Findings (continued)