| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
References
A
Acute Myocardial Infarction
The medical term for "heart attack." Acute myocardial infarction results from a blockage in one or more of the blood vessels leading to the heart. Damage to the heart muscle results, due to the lack of blood flow.
AED
Automated External Defibrillator
Age-adjusted
The age-adjusted percentage is an artificial estimate that minimizes the effects of different age distributions and allows comparisons between different populations. It represents what the crude percentage would have been in the study population if that population had the same age distribution as a standard population. For example, that is a population in which the age composition is known precisely as a result of a census.
AMI
Acute Myocardial Infarction
Anticoagulant
An anticoagulant is a medication that helps prevent blood clotting. They can prevent new clots from forming or an existing clot from enlarging. They do not dissolve existing clots. Heparin and warfarin are examples of anticoagulants.
Antithrombotic
A drug preventing or interfering with the formation of blood clots
B
Blood Pressure (BP)
The force of blood on the inside walls of blood vessels, measured by analyzing both the systolic blood pressure, the pressure when the heart pushes blood out into the arteries, and the diastolic blood pressure, when the heart is at rest.
Blood Lipid
Fat in the blood stream, which is measured with a lipid profile blood test. The lipid profile test measures total cholesterol, the fat produced by the liver and found in some foods, triglycerides, the storage form of fat in the body, HDL cholesterol, fat that takes extra cholesterol from the blood to the liver for removal, and LDL cholesterol, fat that takes excess cholesterol around the body to where it’s needed, but excess ultimately rests on the inside of artery walls.
Body Mass Index (BMI)
Weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters; a standard measure for the purpose of determining overweight or obesity
BRFSS
Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System
C
C Reactive Protein
An antibody found in the blood in certain acute and chronic conditions including infections and cancers. It is a nonspecific indicator of inflammation and, therefore, not diagnostic of any one disease.
CABG
Coronary Artery Bypass Graft
Cardiovascular Diseases
Diseases relating to the heart and the blood vessels or the circulation
CARES
Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival
CHD
Coronary Heart Disease
Cholesterol
The most abundant steroid in animal tissues, especially in bile and gallstones, and present in food, especially food rich in animal fats; circulates in the plasma complexed to proteins of various densities and plays an important role in the pathogenesis of atheroma formation in arteries.
Confidence Interval (CI)
Conventional form of an interval estimate, computed in statistical analyses, based on the theory of frequency probability.
Congenital
Existing at birth, referring to certain mental or physical traits, anomalies, malformations, diseases, and like findings, which may be either hereditary or due to an influence occurring during gestation up to the moment of birth
Coronary Heart Disease
Disease caused by a lack of blood to the heart due to a narrowing or obstruction of the arteries that could result in a heart attack
Coverdell
Paul Coverdell National Acute Stroke Registry
CPR
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation
CRP
C-Reactive Protein
Crude
The crude percentage is the raw percentage or the unadjusted estimate.
CT
CAT Scan (Computed Axial Tomography)
CVD
Cardiovascular Disease
CVH
Cardiovascular Health
D
DVT
Deep Vein Thrombosis
Dyslipidemia
High total cholesterol or high levels of triglycerides
Dysphagia
Difficulty swallowing due to dysfunction of the muscle required to swallow
E
Echocardiogram
The use of ultrasound in the investigation of the heart and great vessels and diagnosis of cardiovascular lesions.
F
G
H
HCUP
Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project
HD
Heart Disease
High-density Lipoprotein
The high density lipoproteins transport cholesterol from the tissues of the body to the liver so it can be gotten rid of in the bile. HDL cholesterol is therefore considered the "good" cholesterol.
HDSP
Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention
Heart Failure
A progressive condition where the heart muscle weakens and cannot pump blood efficiently. Fluid accumulates in the lungs, hands, ankles, or other parts of the body.
Hemorrhagic Stroke
Stroke caused by the bleeding of ruptured blood vessels (hemorrhage) in the brain.
HF
Heart Failure
Homocysteine
Homocysteine is an amino acid in the blood. Epidemiological studies have shown that too much homocysteine in the blood (plasma) is related to a higher risk of coronary heart disease, stroke and peripheral vascular disease.
Hypertension
High blood pressure; transitory or sustained elevation of systemic arterial blood pressure to a level likely to induce cardiovascular damage or other adverse consequences
I
IHD
Ischemic Heart Disease
Incidence
The number of new events (e.g. death or a particular disease) occurring during a specified period of time in a population at risk of developing the events.
Ischemic Heart Disease
Disease caused by a lack of blood to the heart due to a narrowing or obstruction of the arteries that could result in a heart attack.
Ischemic Stroke
Stroke caused by blockage in a blood vessel, leading to no blood to the brain tissues distal to the blockage.
J
K
L
Low-density lipoprotein
Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) transports cholesterol from the liver to the tissues of the body. LDL cholesterol is therefore considered the "bad" cholesterol.
M
Mean
Equals the sum of observations divided by the number of observations
Median
Equals the observation in the center when all observations are ordered from smallest to largest; when there is an even number of observations the median is the average of the middle two values.
MI
Myocardial Infarction
MRI
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
N
NAMCS
National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey
Natural Breaks
The Natural Breaks classing method identifies groupings that naturally exist in the data. The classes or "breaks" (i.e., categories or intervals) are selected using a statistical process that determines the "break points" where there are relatively big jumps in the data values to best group similar values and to maximize the differences between classes.
NHANES
National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
NHIS
National Health Interview Survey
NIS
Nationwide Inpatient Sample
O
OHCA
Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest
P
PAD
Peripheral Arterial Disease
PCI
Percutaneous Coronary Intervention
PCNASR
Paul Coverdell National Acute Stroke Registry
Percentile
The percentage of a distribution that is below a specific value
Peripheral Artery Disease
Narrowing of the arteries of the legs caused by plaque Prevalence
Prevalence
A measure of disease occurrence: the total number of individuals who have a disease at a particular time (may be a particular period) divided by the population at risk of having the disease
Q
R
Rate
The number of new events that occur over the sum of time individuals in the population were at risk for having the event.
S
Sentinel Surveillance
Surveillance based on selected population samples chosen to represent the relevant experience of particular groups.
Standard Deviation
A measure of the spread of data around the mean. One standard deviation includes 68% of the values in a sample population and two standard deviations include 95% of the values.
Standard Error of the Mean
The amount of variability in the measurement of the population mean from several different samples, in contrast to the standard deviation which measures the variability of individual observations in a sample.
Stroke
Any acute clinical event, related to impairment of cerebral circulation, that lasts longer than 24 hours
T
TIA
Transient Ischemic Stroke
t-PA
Tissue Plasminogen Activator
U
V
Vital Records
Certificates of birth, death, marriage, and divorce required for legal and demographic purposes.
W
X
Y
Z
References
Porta, M, Greenland S, Last JM, editors. A dictionary of epidemiology. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008
MedPage Tools. Guide to Biostatistics. Available at: http://www.medpagetoday.com/lib/content/Medpage-Guide-to-Biostatistics.pdf [PDF-380K]
Stedman’s Medical Dictionary, 28th Edition. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2006.
