A call for standardised age-disaggregated health data

Theresa Diaz, Kathleen L. Strong, Bochen Cao, Regina Guthold, Allisyn C. Moran, Ann Beth Moller, Jennifer Requejo, Ritu Sadana, Jotheeswaran Amuthavalli Thiyagarajan, Emmanuel Adebayo, Elsie Akwara, Agbessi Amouzou, John J. Aponte Varon, Peter S. Azzopardi, Cynthia Boschi-Pinto, Liliana Carvajal, Venkatraman Chandra-Mouli, Sarah Crofts, Saeed Dastgiri, Jeremiah S. DeryShatha Elnakib, Laura Fagan, B. Jane Ferguson, Julia Fitzner, Howard S. Friedman, Ann Hagell, Eduard Jongstra, Laura Kann, Somnath Chatterji, Mike English, Philippe Glaziou, Claudia Hanson, Ahmad R. Hosseinpoor, Andrew Marsh, Alison P. Morgan, Melinda K. Munos, Abdisalan Noor, Boris I. Pavlin, Rich Pereira, Tyler A. Porth, Joanna Schellenberg, Rizwana Siddique, Danzhen You, Lara M.E. Vaz, Anshu Banerjee

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

Abstract

The 2030 Sustainable Development Goals agenda calls for health data to be disaggregated by age. However, age groupings used to record and report health data vary greatly, hindering the harmonisation, comparability, and usefulness of these data, within and across countries. This variability has become especially evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, when there was an urgent need for rapid cross-country analyses of epidemiological patterns by age to direct public health action, but such analyses were limited by the lack of standard age categories. In this Personal View, we propose a recommended set of age groupings to address this issue. These groupings are informed by age-specific patterns of morbidity, mortality, and health risks, and by opportunities for prevention and disease intervention. We recommend age groupings of 5 years for all health data, except for those younger than 5 years, during which time there are rapid biological and physiological changes that justify a finer disaggregation. Although the focus of this Personal View is on the standardisation of the analysis and display of age groups, we also outline the challenges faced in collecting data on exact age, especially for health facilities and surveillance data. The proposed age disaggregation should facilitate targeted, age-specific policies and actions for health care and disease management.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)e436-e443
JournalThe Lancet Healthy Longevity
Volume2
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2021

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Health(social science)
  • Geriatrics and Gerontology
  • Psychiatry and Mental health
  • Family Practice

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'A call for standardised age-disaggregated health data'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this