Descrizione degli Indicatori e Fonti dei dati

[Autom. eng. transl.] The demographic situation, the state of health and the organization of health care have been analyzed through the use of a series of quantitative indicators, defined as those characteristics, of an individual, a population or an environment, which can be measured and which are closely associated with the phenomenon of interest, which is not directly measurable. An indicator serves to synthetically describe, in a direct or approximate way, a phenomenon and to measure its variations over time and between different realities. A measure (for example the mortality rate) is an indicator of a given phenomenon (for example the state of health) when it is able to change as the aspects of the phenomenon change (if the state of health worsens, mortality increases) .A measure, or a set of measures, constitute an indicator after its reliability has been evaluated, or the ability to measure the true changes of the phenomenon of interest in a reproducible way. In order to use indicators whose reliability has been ascertained and to make comparisons between the Italian reality and that of other countries possible, the indicators used in this Osservasalute Report were chosen from those listed in the European Community Health Indicators project (ECHI ); to these were added indicators built for some specific aspects not contemplated in the project. The indicators were defined on the basis of the phenomena we wanted to measure and taking into account the availability of reliable data of acceptable quality for all the territorial areas considered. In the individual Chapters, for each indicator a form has been prepared where, in addition to the calculation method, the meaning and limits of the indicator itself are reported.