Medical Information on the InternetIf you're not sure where to start in finding a statistic or if you're not sure which government agency or association would be most likely to keep the statistic you want, it might be best to start with a consumer health Website or statistics portal. The best place to start is the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) Faststats Website. From accidents to illegal drug use; doctor visits to hospital utilization, this site presents the statistics in an easy to understand format and refers you to other government data sets for more in-depth information and data manipulation. Two good consumer health Websites to start with are: MedlinePlus, from the National Library of Medicine, and NOAH (New York Online Access to Health). Don't let the "New York" in NOAH fool you; it is a well-organized consumer health Website where each disease or condition uses a similar template and most include a link to "statistics". The University of Michigan's Document Center has a Web portal to all types of statistics on the Web, linking to government, association, and think tank resources.
