Guadalupe County Health Highlights: Influenza and Pneumonia Deaths

Influenza and Pneumonia Deaths

Guadalupe County Compared to State


*Description of Dashboard Gauge

Description of the Dashboard Gauge

This "dashboard" type graphic is based on the community data on the right. It compares the community value on this indicator to the state overall value.
  • Excellent = The community's value on this indicator is BETTER than the state value, and the difference IS statistically significant.
  • Watch = The community's value is BETTER than state value, but the difference IS NOT statistically significant.
  • Improvement Needed = The community's value on this indicator is WORSE than the state value, but the difference IS NOT statistically significant.
  • Reason for Concern = The community's value on this indicator is WORSE than the state value, and the difference IS statistically significant.

The community value is considered statistically significantly different from the state value if the state value is outside the range of the community's 95% confidence interval. If the community's data or 95% confidence interval information is not available, a blank gauge image will be displayed with the message, "missing information."
NOTE: The labels used on the gauge graphic are meant to describe the community's status in plain language. The placement of the gauge needle is based solely on the statistical difference between the community and state values. When selecting priority health issues to work on, a community should take into account additional factors such as how much improvement could be made, the U.S. value, the statistical stability of the community number, the severity of the health condition, and whether the difference is clinically significant.

Why Is This Important?

Influenza (flu) is a contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses. Illness from influenza viruses can be severe and can lead to complications such as pneumonia and death. (1). Pneumonia is an infection of the lungs due to a variety of causes that can also be severe and lead to complications, including death. Some people, such as older people, young children, and people with certain health conditions, are at higher risk for serious complications and death from influenza and pneumonia. Pneumonia and/or influenza as underlying causes of death were the 10th leading cause of death in New Mexico in 2009, and were the 4th and 7th leading causes for young children (1-4 years) and older adults (85+ years), respectively.

Evidence-based Practices

Yearly influenza vaccination is a proven way to prevent many individuals from getting the flu and to decrease the severity and complications from flu.

Certain vaccines help prevent some types of pneumonia.

Good hygiene practices can also help prevent respiratory infections such as influenza and pneumonia. Good hygiene for prevention of respiratory infections includes washing your hands regularly, cleaning hard surfaces that are touched often (like doorknobs and countertops), and coughing or sneezing into a tissue or into your elbow or sleeve. You can also reduce your risk of getting pneumonia by staying healthy (preventing chronic illnesses such as diabetes and HIV/AIDS) and limiting exposure to cigarette smoke. (2)

Healthy People 2010 Objective 14.29a:

Influenza and pneumococcal vaccination of high-risk adults - Noninstitutionalized adults -Influenza vaccine (age adjusted, ages 65 years and older)
U.S. Target for 2010: 90%

Influenza and Pneumonia Deaths by County, New Mexico, 2007-2010

::chart - missing::

Guadalupe County 4.0
95% Confidence Interval

Description of 95% Confidence Interval

The confidence interval indicates the range of probable true values for the level of risk in the community.

A value of "DNA" (Data Not Available) will appear if the confidence interval was not published with the IBIS indicator data for this measure.

For more information on confidence intervals, visit the New Mexico IBIS confidence interval page at http://ibis.health.state.nm.us/resources/ConfidenceInterval.html.
(0.0 - 11.8)
Statistical Stability

Description of Statistical Stability

  • Stable = This count or rate is relatively stable and should provide a good estimate of your community risk.
  • Unstable = This count or rate is statistically unstable (RSE >0.30), and may fluctuate widely due to random variation (chance).
  • Very Unstable = This count or rate is extremely unstable (RSE >0.50). This value should not be used to represent your population risk. You should combine years or otherwise increase the population denominator in this calculation.
  • DNA = Data Not Available. The required community value and/or confidence interval was not available for this measure.

For more information on statistical stability, visit the New Mexico IBIS Reliability and Validity page at http://ibis.health.state.nm.us/resources/ReliabilityValidity.html.
Very Unstable
New Mexico 16.7
U.S. 16.2

Note

Death rates have been age-adjusted to the U.S. 2000 standard population. Deaths from influenza and pneumonia include all deaths with an underlying cause with ICD10 codes J09-J18. ICD10 codes are classifications of diseases and signs, symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances and external causes of injury or diseases. Underlying causes of death are diseases or injuries that initiated the chain of events leading directly to death, or the circumstances of the accident or violence which produced the fatal injury.  U.S. data are for 2009.

Data Sources

New Mexico Death Data: Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics (BVRHS), New Mexico Department of Health.   Population Source: Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BBER) Population Estimates, University of New Mexico. http://www.unm.edu/~bber/.  

Measure Description for Influenza and Pneumonia Deaths

Definition: Deaths from influenza and pneumonia (underlying cause with ICD10: J09-J18) per 100,000 population, age-adjusted.
Numerator: Number of pneumonia and influenza deaths
Denominator: Number of persons in the population
Click on this link to jump to the complete indicator profile report for Influenza and Pneumonia Deaths (exits this community report).
Date Indicator Content Last Updated: 05/22/2012
Influenza Surveillance Program, Infectious Disease Epidemiology Bureau, New Mexico Department of Health, 1190 St. Francis Dr., Suite N-1350, Santa Fe, NM, 87502. Contact: Katie Avery, nurse epidemiologist, phone 505-827-0083 or email: Catherine.Avery@state.nm.us
The information provided above is from the New Mexico Department of Health's NM-IBIS web site (http://ibis.health.state.nm.us). The information published on this website may be reproduced without permission. Please use the following citation: "Retrieved Sat, 18 May 2013 1:13:40 from New Mexico Department of Health, Indicator-Based Information System for Public Health Web site: http://ibis.health.state.nm.us".

Content updated: Thu, 7 Jun 2012 13:25:00 MDT