How To Use A Database

How do I find the answers I need?

The following list of questions will guide you to the right source for answers.

1. What is your question? Do you want to know the number of seniors with a specific diagnosis like heart disease or stroke? Do you want to know the percentage of older adults engaging in health promotion behaviors like physical activity or flu shots?
2. Which database will best meet your question? The following information is contained for each database:
   • Description: What kind of information is contained in the database? Do you think this information will be able to answer your question? For example, the NC Trauma Registry only contains information from trauma centers. This may not be helpful if you live in a region that does not have any trauma centers, or if you are not interested in trauma.
   • Variables: What specific information is contained in the database? Does the information answer your question? For example, if you want to know how many adults got flu shots in your county, you need to make sure that you are not looking at a trauma database, rather a health promotion database.There are general variable categories listed in the tool. An example would be health conditions or health behaviors. The specific variables for each category are listed on the last page of this section. An example would be Health Conditions: diabetes, obesity. If a database has unique variables, not in the general category, these are specifically listed in the section.
   • Strengths/Weakness/Utility: Collecting data can sometimes be problematic. This section will tell you what is good about the database, and what might be questionable. This information will help you understand how to best use the data. One thing to look at is the age classification of older adults. Are data for specific age groups such as 65-74, 75-84 and 85+? Or are older adults just grouped as > 65 or > 45?
   • Years Available: Will tell you how recent the data is
   • Updates: Tells you how often the database is updated
   • Contact information: Once you have decided that this is the database for you, contact the person provided and get the information you need!
3. Which specific variables are you looking for? Examples include:

Category	Variables
Demographics	Age Gender Racial/ethnic Marital status Education Living arrangements (home, assisted living, institution) Lives alone, family, grandchildren Length of time living in area Disability Poverty Income Participation in labor force Leading cause of death by county
Health-care Access	Medicare Medicare/Medicaid enrollee Secondary health insurance
Health Care Utilization	# Visits to primary care provider # ER visits ER diagnosis # Hospitalizations # of prescription drugs
Health Risks and Behaviors	Annual flu shot Annual pneumococcal shot Annual mammogram Physical activity Underweight, overweight, obese Smoking status (never, former, current) # of alcoholic drinks/month Heavy drinker, binge drinker # Fruits and vegetables consumed
Health Conditions	Diabetes (Type 1 or 2) Diabetic complications (prevalence of amputations, neuropathy) Hypertension High cholesterol Coronary Vascular Disease Heart Attack Asthma Stroke Cancer Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Osteoarthritis Alzheimer’s Disease Parkinson’s Disease Dementia HIV/AIDS Osteoporosis Depression Renal Disease
Accidents	Falls (hip fractures, head injuries) Drug overdose/Polypharmacy Suicide
Preventative Care	Diabetes (Yearly A1c, lipids, eye exams, foot exams) Stroke (yearly lipids, blood pressure management, diabetes management, obesity management)