English Abstract An inventory of data standards has been made. The aim
was: a. investigate which important classifications and definitions exist
for the working areas of the RIVM ; b. investigate which of those
classifications and definitions could be useful for or are used within the
RIVM. The working areas actually considered are: - public health
forecasting ; - environmental forecasting ; - epidemiology ; and economic
and social factors of interest to these working areas. The conclusions are:
- in many cases standards are difficult to access, except for standards that
are widely used ; - standardization in the area of public health exists
mainly for diseases and therapeutic and diagnostic actions ; in the area of
determinants much less standards could be found, or when present they are
less useful since they serve other purposes than public health: -
standardization in the area of environmental protection is in rapid
development, stimulated by internationalization ; - within RIVM different
opinions exist regarding the usefulness of standards and of this inventory
availability of data is considered to be of more importance ; - this
inventory does not pretend to be complete, but it provides an overview of
what is available on the subjects considered ; - this inventory is a
product of its time ; standards are revised regularly.
