Data Visualization in Public Health

Washington D.C. Tableau User Group Meet Up. March 17, 2015

RAMON MARTINEZ

@HlthAnalysis

Specialist in Health Metrics

Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)

Content

• What is Public Health?

• Population Health Analysis

• Population Health Analytic Process

• Visual Analytic Process

• Some Example of Data Visualization in Public Health

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What is Public Health?

"the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals.“

Charles-Edward Amory Winslow, 1920

Public Health is concerned with threats to healthbased on population health analysis

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The Main Public Health Functions

1. The assessment and monitoring of the health of communities and populations at risk to identify health problems and priorities.

2. The formulation of public policies designed to solve identified local and national health problems and priorities.

3. To assure that all populations have access to appropriate and cost-effective care, including health promotion and disease prevention services.

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Population Health Analysis

Public Health

uses the methods from

Epidemiology and Biostatistics

for

assessing , monitoring , evaluating and analyzing population health

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Population Health Analytic Process

1. Question – public health issue

2. Identification of data sources

3. Selection and application of analytic methods

o Main dimensions: time, place and person

4. Analysis & interpretation of results – Key Findings

5. Presentation and sharing of results and findings

6. Interventions – actions for improving health

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Population Health Analytic Process

1. Typical Type of Questions

o Which population is affected?

o How cases or deaths are distributed by population demographics -sex and age?

o What is the level or magnitude of the problem?

• How many cases or deaths

• What is the rate (cases or deaths per total population)

o What is the trends over time

o How are cases geographically distributed? Which are the locations with higher risks

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Analytic Process

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Databases &

Local data in Excel

CSV, Text, Access

Analysis tool

Tableau Desktop

Points to Data

Create interactive

Visualizations and

Dashboards

Publish to Tableau

Server & embed

in the website

Diagram adapted from How Data Visualization Enhances the News , Ben Jones

Visual Analytic Cycle

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Examples of

Data Visualization in

Public Health

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Prevalence of Diabetes in Adults, 2013

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Objective: Assess the level and trends of the prevalence of diabetes worldwide

Source: International Diabetes Federation (IDF)

Analytics questions:1. How is diabetes prevalence

distributed geographically? 2. Which countries have the highest

level of prevalence3. Is prevalence of diabetes related to

impaired glucose tolerance (IGT)

Prevalence of Diabetes in Adults, 2013

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Best practices:

1. Explicit questions as heading of charts

2. Stat Callout showing summary measures

3. Informative Interval Map Legend, including quantity and percent (out of total) of countries

4. Dot plot to identify countries with higher prevalence and provide

Prevalence of HIV, ages 15-49 years, 1990-2012

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ObjectiveAnalyze the magnitude and distribution of HIV in the World

Source: World Development Indicators, The World Bank

Questions1. Which regions and countries

exhibits the higher prevalence of HIV?

2. How is HIV geographically distributed?

3. How is the distribution of HIV by regions and income groups?

Prevalence of HIV, ages 15-49 years, 1990-2012

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Best Practices1. Explicit questions on the viz2. Use of Info Icon to provide

additional information about the visualization

3. Histogram to show the rank of countries by HIV prevalence

4. Map legend using box plot giving additional information about prevalence heterogeneity

5. Box plot to show distribution within and across population groups

Gender Gap in Human Development, 2013

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ObjectiveAnalyze the gender inequality in Human Development

Source: HDI, 2013. UNDP

Questions1. Which countries have the

highest absolute gender inequality?

2. Is there any relation between the HDI and gender inequality

Gender Gap in Human Development, 2013

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Best Practices1. Use of Gantt chart to show

absolute differences of the human development by gender across countries

2. Scatter Plots to provide additional information about relationship between HDI and measures of inequality

3. Additional Tab to show and share the data source

4. Additional Tab to provide additional information about the Visualization

Mortality in the World Comparing regions fro 1970 to 2012

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ObjectiveAnalyze the magnitude, distribution and trends of mortality across regions of the World

Source: GBD Study, 2013. IHME

Questions1. What is the level of mortality across

regions? 2. Are trends in mortality increasing or

decreasing? 3. What is the shape if the mortality

profile by ages?

Mortality in the WorldComparing regions fro 1970 to 2012

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Best Practices

1. Use of small multiples to provide information by regional and sexes.

2. Use of Sparkline to show trends and distribution bands as context.

3. Dual axis to show selected year on Sparkline

4. Highlighting the mortality at global level (red color) to facilitate comparison

5. Filters by age group and year to facilitate data exploration

Conclusions

• Data visualization is an effective tool for Public Health

• Data visualization allows sharing and communicating information on population health to a wide audience (decision-maker, policy-maker, health professional and the general public).

• Visual analytics play a key role for assessing and monitoring the population health.

• Applying best practice allows us to create engaging and actionable data and information products

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Thanks

Questions?

For more examples of Data Visualization in Public Health visit Health

Intelligence:

http://healthintelligence.drupalgardens.com

Keep the conversation on Twitter @HlthAnalysis and use #HealthDataViz

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