Eurostat

Causes of Death data refer to the underlying cause which - according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) - is the disease or injury which initiated the train of morbid events leading directly to death, or the circumstances of the accident or violence which produced the fatal injury"."

Hospital beds provide information on health care capacities, i.e. on the maximum number of patients who can be treated by hospitals. Curative care (or acute care) beds in hospitals are beds that are available for curative care. These beds are a subgroup of total hospital beds which are defined as all hospital beds which are regularly maintained and staffed and immediately available for the care of admitted patients; both occupied and unoccupied beds are covered. Hospitals are defined according to the classification of health care providers of the System of Health Accounts (SHA); all public and private hospitals should be covered.

Data on dentists should refer to those “immediately serving patients”, i.e. dentists who have direct contact with patients as consumers of health care services. In the context of comparing health care services across Member States, Eurostat considers that this is the concept which best describes the availability of health care resources. However, Member States use different concepts when they report the number of health care professionals. Therefore for some countries the data might refer to dentists ‘licensed to practice’ (i.e. successfully graduated dentists irrespective whether they see patients or not) or they might include dentists who work in their profession but do not see patients (i.e. they work in research, administration etc.). Please have a look in the annexes of the metadata to see for which concept these data refer to for each country.

The European Health Interview Survey (EHIS) aims at measuring on a harmonised basis and with a high degree of comparability among MS the health status, lifestyle (health determinants) and health care services use of the EU citizens. The European Health Interview Survey (EHIS) was developed between 2003 and 2006, during a process in which all the EU Member States (MS) were largely involved. It consists of four modules on health status, health care, health determinants, and background variables. Those modules may be implemented at the national level either as one specific survey or as elements of existing surveys (i.e. national health interview survey, labour force survey, other household surveys). The final version of the questionnaire for the first wave of EHIS was adopted by the MS at the Working Group on Public Health Statistics in November 2006. The survey contained around 130 questions split among the four modules covering the following topics: Background variables on demography and socio-economic status Health status: Minimum European Health Module (MEHM): self-perceived health, chronic health problems and activity limitationDisease specific morbidityAccidents and injuriesWork-related health problemsHealth related absenteeism from workPhysical and sensory functional limitationsActivities of daily living (ADL - feeding, bathing, etc.) and help receivedInstrumental activities of daily living (IADL - preparing meals, shopping, etc.) and help receivedPainAspect of mental health (psychological distress and mental well-being) Health care: Hospitalisation (inpatient and day care)Consultations with doctors and dentistsUnmet needs for hospitalization and for consultation with a specialistVisits to specific non-medical health professionalsVisits to specific categories of alternative medicine practitionersUse of home care and home help servicesSatisfaction with services provided by health care providersUse of medicines (prescribed and non-prescribed)Health care preventive actions (influenza vaccination, breast examination, cervical smear test, blood tests, etc.)Out-of-pocket payments for medical care (self-completion form) Health determinants: Height and weightPhysical activityConsumption of fruits, vegetables and juiceEnvironnent (home and workplace exposures, criminality exposure, social support)Smoking behaviour and exposure to tobacco smoke (self-completion form)Alcohol consumption (self-completion form)Illicit drug use (self-completion form). The first wave of the EHIS was implemented during the period 2006-2009 under a gentlemen's agreement. Nineteen countries have carried out it: 2006: AT, EE2007: SI, CH2008: BE, BG, CZ, CY, FR, LV, MT, RO, TR2009: DE, EL, ES, HU, PL, SK. Germany provided aggregated data and for breakdowns with a strata size less than 20, the values were marked as confidential (flag ~c). No data have been received for Switzerland. In total, 26 indicators based on DG SANCO and DG EMPL needs and covering health status, health determinants and health care are disseminated on Eurostat website. For more information on indicators see document EHIS indicators guidelines.   The indicators present distribution percentages and are calculated with different breakdown according to the indicator: sex, age group (10-years intervals, 15 – 24, 25 – 34, …, 75 – 84, 85 or over) and educational attainment levels (ISCED0-2, ISCED3-4, ISCED5-6);sex, age group (18-44, 45-54, 55-64, 65-74, 75 or over) and income quintiles. For example: 4.5 % of Latvian women aged 25-34 are obese (BMI is equal or greater than 30). Records with missing values on age and sex were excluded from the calculation of indicators.   Most of the indicators are worked out for the population aged 15 or over. Nevertheless, for some specific indicators, frequencies are calculated on different populations: the Body Mass Index (BMI) (tables hlth_ehis_de1 and hlth_ehis_de2) is calculated for adults only (18+);the self-reported prevalence of high blood pressure (table hlth_ehis_st1) is computed for people aged 25+;the self-reported vaccination against influenza (table hlth_ehis_hc1) is computed for people aged 65+;the self-reported breast examination by X-ray (table hlth_ehis_hc2) is computed for women aged 50-69;the self-reported cervical smear test (table hlth_ehis_hc3) is computed for women aged 20-69;the self-reported colorectal cancer screening test (table hlth_ehis_hc4) is computed for people aged 50-74.

Hospital beds provide information on health care capacities, i.e. on the maximum number of patients who can be treated by hospitals. Psychiatric care beds in hospitals are beds accommodating patients with mental health problems. These beds are a subgroup of total hospital beds which are defined as all hospital beds which are regularly maintained and staffed and immediately available for the care of admitted patients; both occupied and unoccupied beds are covered. Hospitals are defined according to the classification of health care providers of the System of Health Accounts (SHA); all public and private hospitals should be covered.