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NCHS

Retired Collaborations


International Collaborative Effort on Injury Statistics

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The International Collaborative Effort (ICE) on Injury Statistics was one of several international activities sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). The goal was to provide a forum for international exchange and collaboration among injury researchers who develop and promote international standards in injury data collection and analysis. A secondary goal was to produce products of the highest quality to facilitate the comparability and improved quality of injury data. Find more information on the activities of this group here.

International Collaborative Effort on Measuring Health and Health Care of the Aging

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The ICE on Health and Health Care of the Aging was established in 1988 to strengthen the measurement of health and health care of the elderly in both NCHS programs and international applications. The emphasis on international collaboration provided increased opportunity for comparing health data among nations and for sharing NCHS' accumulated knowledge and experience. Within NCHS, ICE on Aging was designed to assist in providing reliable and timely data to assess the health of the population and to track progress in promoting the nation’s health. This collaboration permitted NCHS to share its experience with other countries, and in turn, to learn how colleagues in other countries responded to their nations’ requirements for high-quality data.

The primary interest of the ICE on Aging was the health and wellness of older persons, particularly several measurement issues that arose in assessing the many aspects of health and illness in this population. To focus the efforts of the collaborators, three major themes were chosen for investigation: comparing diagnostic statistics; measuring vitality; and assessing outcomes of health care. Within these overarching themes, a set of measurement issues was selected for priority attention.

  • Comparing diagnostic statistics:
    • Mortality statistics for cardiovascular disease and cancer
    • Morbidity measures for chronic diseases common in older persons
  • Measuring vitality:
    • Assessment of vitality and aging
    • Defining and measuring functional disability
    • Appropriate measures for health promotion and disease prevention among the aging
  • Assessing outcomes of health care:
    • Measuring risk factors and outcomes of institutional long-term care

The ICE on Aging brought together a group of international experts from different countries and a variety of organizations, including governments, universities, foundations, and international agencies. The objective of the group was to conduct research on the targeted measurement topics, using, where possible, existing data sets and producing results within 3 to 4 years so the results could be incorporated into the programs of NCHS and other organizations within a short time frame.

The ICE on Health and Health Care of the Aging sponsored two major meetings, each of which resulted in a publication of proceedings. The initial meeting of the group, the 1988 International Symposium on Data on Aging, took place in Bethesda, Maryland in December 1988. The goal of the meeting was to develop a research agenda for each of the six measurement topics identified in advance. The meeting was organized around two types of activities – for each of the measurement topics, a plenary session to consider pertinent research issues, followed by workshops to discuss the research issues and develop specific research proposals. The draft proposals were presented in the final session of the meeting. Presentations from the first meeting were published as Proceedings of the 1988 International Symposium on Data on Aging [PDF - 20.57MB].

The second meeting of the group, the 1991 International Symposium on Data on Aging took place in Rockville, Maryland in September 1991. The meeting provided a status report on research plans developed during the 1988 meeting. In part the presentations focused on challenges faced by ICE researchers, including nonavailable data, noncomparable data, elimination of some research topics, and additions or replacement of members of the research team. The meeting included a number of plenary sessions and workshops for detailed discussion of the status of each of the research topics. Presentations from the first meeting were published as Proceedings of the 1991 International Symposium on Data on Aging [PDF - 5.44MB].

International Collaborative Effort on Perinatal and Infant Mortality

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The International Collaborative Effort (ICE) on Perinatal and Infant Mortality was established in 1984 by the NCHS, the first of several ICEs created by NCHS to promote coordinated international research on topics of mutual interest. The collaboration ended in 1994. The ICE on Perinatal and Infant Mortality provided a setting for the development, planning, and implementation of research on this topic by colleagues from numerous countries. The collaboration was led by a planning group consisting of researchers from NCHS; the division of Maternal and Child Health of the Health Resources and Services Administration; the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health, and two researchers each from the Federal Republic of Germany, England and Wales, Scotland, Israel, Japan, Norway, and Sweden. Researchers from each country developed and followed research designs developed mutually by the ICE planning group that were of national benefit and permitted comparative analysis of the results across the member countries. The goals for the United States were to gain a better understanding of the country'sr elatively poor ranking in perinatal and infant mortality; to improve the quality and comparability of data and measures used to monitor perinatal and infant mortality in the United States and elsewhere; and to provide guidance to Public Health Service programs relevant to public health.

The ICE on Perinatal and Infant Mortality sponsored three major meetings, each of which resulted in a publication of proceedings. The initial meeting of the group, the International Symposium on Perinatal and Infant Mortality, took place in Bethesda, Maryland in August 1984. The objectives of the meeting were as follows:

  • Familiarize all members of the planning group with the conditions and activities in this topic area in each of the countries.
  • Consider topics of mutual interest that are appropriate for cross-national investigation.
  • Identify as far as possible the resources such as data bases, ongoing and proposed studies that the group can draw on for their recommendations.
  • Search for topics that can be studied without extensive resources or development of new data bases.

Presentations from the first meeting were published as Proceedings of the International Collaborative Effort on Perinatal and Infant Mortality, Volume 1[PDF - 25.01MB].


The second major meeting of the ICE on Perinatal and Infant Mortality took place in Chicago in November 1985 as two special sessions of the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association. The papers reflected the status of research conducted by members of the planning group, while a subsequent seminar focused on their research perspectives and methodologies. In their presentations and discussions, members of the planning group reviewed complex and comprehensive issues that are critical to perinatal and infant mortality. The presentations were grouped into four general categories: risk factor and outcome assessment; methodology; comparisons of trends and data; and comparative health systems. The presentations were published as Proceedings of the International Collaborative Effort on Perinatal and Infant Mortality, Volume II [PDF - 9.1MB].


The final major meeting of the ICE on Perinatal and Infant Mortality (the Second International Symposium on Perinatal and Infant Mortality) took place in Bethesda, Maryland in May 1990. Most of the presentations from this meeting were based on a standardized, birthweight-specific, data set covering birth cohorts from the period 1980–85. The data set included information on length of gestation and plurality, as well as age and cause of death for infant deaths. The data and presentations provided important insights on the sources of differences in infant and perinatal mortality among the participating countries. The presentations were published as Proceedings of the International Collaborative Effort on Perinatal and Infant Mortality, Volume III [PDF - 26.97MB].

Publications

Alberman E, Bergsjø P, Cole S, Evan S, Hartford R, Hoffman H, et al. International collaborative effort (ICE) on birthweight; plurality; and perinatal and infant mortality. I: Methods of data collection and analysis. Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand 68(1):5–10. 1989.

Evans S, Alberman E, Pashley J, Hampton B. International collaborative effort (ICE) on birthweight; plurality; and perinatal and infant mortality. II: Comparisons between birthweight distributions of births in member countries from 1970 to 1984. Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand 68(1):11–17. 1989.

Cole S, Hartford RB, Bergsjø P, McCarthy B. International collaborative effort (ICE) on birth weight, plurality, perinatal and infant mortality. III: A method of grouping underlying causes of infant death to aid international comparisons. Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand 68(2):113–117. 1989.

Notzon FC, Bergsjø P, Cole S, Irgens LM, Daltveit AK. International collaborative effort (ICE) on birth weight, plurality, perinatal and infant mortality. IV: Differences in obstetrical delivery practice: Norway, Scotland, and the United States. Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand 70(6):451–460. 1991.

Notzon FC, Cnattingius S, Bergsjø P, Cole S, Taffel S, Irgens LM, Daltveit AK. Cesarean section delivery in the 1980s: International comparison by indication. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 170(2):495–504. 1994.

Alberman E. International collaborative effort (ICE): Databases and their uses. Semin Neonatol. 2(3):149–157. 1997.

International Collaboration on Air Pollution and Pregnancy Outcomes (ICAPPO)

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International Colaboration on Air Pollution and Pregnancy Outcomes (ICAPPO) was formed to assess differences in results among studies and to determine whether reanalysis of existing data sets using common analytic plans and harmonized data definitions leads to more comparable results. Meta-analysis is often not recommended for these studies because of large differences in study design; however, common measures of association are often requested for health and environmental policy decisions. A final paper of the ICAPPO effort has been accepted for publication and will be published in the journal of Environmental Health Perspectives.

United States-Mexico Border Health Commission

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From 2000 to 2010, ISP provided technical assistance to the United States-Mexico Border Health Commission for the establishment of the 2010 Healthy Border Program. In addition to technical assistance, ISP, was involved in developing several lectures and publications related to border health as well as order and national mortality and morbidity data for the development of other public policy work across the border region. The ISP in collaboration with staff of US State Border Health Offices and other border colleagues prepared the 2011 report "Border Lives: Health Status in the US-Mexico Border Region" [PDF - 17.9 MB], an electronic publication of the US-Mexico Border Health Commission.

United States-Russia Collaboration

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Coming soon.

United States-Hungary Collaboration

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Coming soon.

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