TY - JOUR T1 - Interactive analysis of Belgian vital statistics on the Internet. JF - Med Inform Internet Med Y1 - 2006 A1 - Sabine Drieskens A1 - Herman Van Oyen A1 - Jean Tafforeau A1 - Lafontaine, Marie-France KW - ADOLESCENT KW - Adult KW - Aged KW - Aged, 80 and over KW - Belgium KW - Child KW - Child, Preschool KW - Female KW - Humans KW - Infant KW - Infant, Newborn KW - Internet KW - Male KW - middle aged KW - mortality KW - Vital Statistics AB -

The purpose of the Centre for Operational Research in Public Health (CORPH) is to optimize the accessibility to health information, thus making it possible to measure and follow up the health status of the Belgian population. The Standardized Procedures for Mortality Analysis (SPMA) software was developed in order to facilitate the use of vital statistics for health policy-makers and scientific researchers. Nowadays, SPMA is available on the Internet, because accessibility to health information is crucial. SPMA serves via a system of menus as the interface between databases (population, birth, and mortality) on one hand and statistical procedures on the other hand. Users can choose the parameters such as year, cause of death, geographical level, and statistical indicator, and so dynamic reports are produced 'on demand'. These procedures are available for the following modules: overall mortality, specific cause mortality, and perinatal statistics. Analysis can be carried out for one specific year or for a period over time. Pre-defined procedures accessible through menus make SPMA user-friendly, as it can be used without any preliminary knowledge of the statistical package. Tables, charts, or maps display the results. Users need only an Internet browser to access the application.

VL - 31 CP - 4 U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17135056?dopt=Abstract M3 - 10.1080/14639230500512499 ER -