Glossary | NH Health Wisdom

Race: The classification of humans into populations or groups on the basis of various sets of characteristics. The most commonly used categories are based on visible traits, such as skin color, facial features, hair texture, and self-identification.

Radon: A natural radioactive gas that you cannot see, smell, or taste, but is extremely toxic.

Rapid Inquiry Facility (RIF): An automated mapping and analysis tool that provides an extension to ESRI® ArcGIS functions and uses both database and GIS technologies. The purpose of this facility is to rapidly address epidemiological and public health questions using routinely collected health and population data.

Rate: A measure of the frequency with which an event occurs in a defined population. Only compare rates when the numerator and denominator (i.e., events and population) are consistent over time and place. There must be consistency in definition of event, coding scheme, over time, and among geographies.

Registry: Information system for documenting people with a common characteristic, such as a particular health condition.

Reliability of rates: Rates based on small numbers of events (e.g. less than 10 events) can show considerable variation. This limits the usefulness of these rates in comparisons and estimations of future occurrences. Unadjusted rates are not reliable for drawing definitive conclusions when making comparisons because they do not take factors such as age distribution among populations into account. Age-adjusted rates offer a more refined measurement when comparing events over geographic areas or time periods. When a difference in rates appears to be significant, care should be exercised in attributing the difference to any particular factor or set of factors. Many variables may influence rate differences. Interpretation of a rate difference requires substantial data and exacting analysis.

Remote sensing data: Data from sensing devices, such as satellites, aircrafts, and spacecraft.

Reproductive health: Health of the male and female reproductive and sexual organs. The term is also applied to issues relating to the reproductive process, such as fertility, and pregnancy outcomes like infant mortality and preterm delivery.

Research: A systematic investigation, including the design, implementation, testing, and evaluation to contribute to the scientific literature.

Resolution: Degree of detail that can be seen or shown.

Respiratory health: Relating to the health of the lungs and the other parts of the of the respiratory system that affect our breathing.

Risk: Potential or probability that an event will occur, such as danger or harm.

Risk factor: An aspect of personal behavior or lifestyle, an environmental exposure, or a genetic characteristic that affects a person's chance of getting a disease or other adverse health effect.

Rural: Rural: The NH Rural Health and Primary Care Program defines rurality for Public Health Region (PHR) using population and population density measures. PHRs with a population of 100,000 or less and with a population density of 150 people per square mile or less are considered rural. PHRs that do not meet these criteria are categorized as non-rural. Note: Public Health Region by Rural/Non-Rural identifies a PHR entirely as either rural or non-rural, and does not identify/exclude non-rural areas within the PHR.

Secondary standard: A pollution limit set by the EPA for a criteria pollutant and based on environmental effects such as damage to property, plants, visibility, etc.

Smog: A mixture of pollutants, principally ground-level ozone, produced by chemical reactions in the air. Smog can harm health, damage the environment, and hinder visibility. Major smog occurrences are often linked to heavy motor vehicle traffic, sunshine, high temperatures, and certain other weather conditions. Smog may develop far from the source of smog-forming chemicals (such as volatile organic compounds), since the chemical reactions that cause smog occur high in the air, as the prevailing winds carry the reacting chemicals from their sources.

Spina Bifida (without Anencephaly): The most common birth defect in the United States. It is a type of neural tube defect. The neural tube is a narrow channel that folds and closes during the third and fourth weeks of pregnancy to form the brain and spinal cord. Spina bifida happens if the portion of the neural tube that forms the spinal cord does not close completely during the first month of pregnancy.

Standard population: The standard population refers to the choice of populations used in developing age-adjusted rates.

Standardized rate ratio: The standardized rate ratio calculation is the number of disease counts or deaths observed within a region divided by the expected number of deaths within that region.

State Health Improvement Plan (SHIP): The New Hampshire State Health Improvement Plan (SHIP) priorities and objectives are intended to provide support, guidance, and focus for public health activities throughout the state.

Statistical Significance: The likelihood that a result is caused by something other than chance.

Higher Statistical Significance: Higher likelihood of occurrence than the state average. Lower Statistical Significance: Lower likelihood of occurrence than the state average. No Statistical Significance: Comparable to the state average.

Sulfur dioxide (SO2): A colorless gas formed during the burning of fuels containing sulfur, such as coal. Breathing SO2 may irritate the respiratory system and aggravate asthmatic symptoms.

Suppression: The act of removing an actual data point from an output dataset because displaying it could result in a breach of confidentiality or in misinterpretation of the data.

Stage of cancer: In situ: Abnormal cells are present only in the layer of cells in which they developed. Localized: Cancer is limited to the organ in which it began, without evidence of spread. Regional: Cancer has spread beyond the primary site to nearby lymph nodes or tissues and organs. Distant: Cancer has spread from the primary site to distant tissues or organs or to distant lymph nodes. Unstaged: There is not enough information to determine the stage.

Tetralogy of Fallot: A heart condition that is present at birth, and often is called a congenital heart defect. This defect changes the normal flow of blood through the heart. Tetralogy of Fallot is a combination of four defects: (1) a hole in the wall between the ventricles (two lower chambers of the heart), called a ventricular septal defect; (2) narrowing of the tube that carries blood from the heart to the lungs, called pulmonary stenosis; (3) the aorta (the tube that carries oxygen-rich blood to the body) grows from both ventricles, rather than from the left ventricle only; and (4) a thickened muscular wall of the right ventricle, called right ventricular hypertrophy.

Time trend: Monitoring change over time.

Toxic Release Inventory (TRI): EPA’s list of more than 600 designated chemicals that threaten health and the environment. Authorized under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act (EPCRA) of 1986, this system requires manufacturers to report releases of these chemicals to EPA and State governments. EPA compiles the data in an online, publicly accessible national computerized database.

Toxin: A substance that is harmful to the body or environment.

Transposition of the Great Arteries (Vessels): A heart condition that is present at birth, and often is called a congenital heart defect. Transposition of the great arteries occurs when the two main arteries going out of the heart—the pulmonary artery and the aorta—are switched in position, or “transposed”.

Violation (MCL Violation): A Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) violation occurs when the health based standard set by the U.S. EPA is exceeded.

Vital statistics: Data derived from certificates and reports of birth, death, fetal death, induced termination of pregnancy, marriage, and related reports.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs): Substances containing carbon and various proportions of other elements, such as hydrogen, oxygen, fluorine, chlorine, bromine, sulfur, and nitrogen; these substances easily become vapors or gases. VOCs are commonly found in gasoline, solvents (paint thinners, lacquer thinner, degreasers, and dry cleaning fluids), oil-based paints and inks, and consumer products, such as aerosol spray products. VOCs react with nitrogen oxides, sunlight, and heat to form ozone. Many VOCs are considered air toxics.