In 1961, Hampton Frost and Langmuir played a major role in propelling the practice of biostatistics. They emphasized on the quantitative fundamentals of public health and how they could practically apply the data to health surveillance. During this decade, the first pie chart was used in the analysis of alleged poliomyelitis in the Marshall Islands. In 1971, the National Center for Health Statistics conducted the first NHANES (Stroup & Lyerla, 2011).  CDC and National Institute for Occupational Safety joined forces and as a result propagated application of engineering and statistics in public health. The 1980’s saw the evolvement and expansion of statistical methods among analysts and epidemiologists. Statistical forecasting methods using time series analysis were used in Peru in a food poisoning investigation. In the 1990’s statistics was used as a basis for rational health care decisions. In the 20^th century statistical data presented helped contribute to the reduction of tobacco smoking. It made it possible to produce mapping and mathematical models of the transmission of infectious diseases. In the 2000’s reports using statistical method and data documented obesity crisis in America. Statistics has played a major in the advancement of health care policy.

Describe an example where statistical application has greatly influenced or changed health care operations or practice

Edwin Chadwick is an exemplary example of how statistical application has greatly influenced or changed health care operations or practice. Edwin Chadwick’s efforts produced massive evidence that supported public health reforms. His reports were able to convince the government which led to the source for the 1848 Public Health Act.  Even though Chuck had an antagonistic character, his statistical application improved health care operations. In 1842 he released a report “Report on the Sanitary Conditions of the Labouring Population” (Fee & Brown, 2005). In his report he noted down how people lived in dirty, overcrowded conditions thus generating sickness. As a result, people could not work and the government would spend money to help them. The Cholera epidemic in 1842 helped push the public health reforms which were supported by his report.

References

Fee, E., & Brown, T. (2005). The Public Health Act of 1848. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/83/11/866.pdf?ua=1

Stroup, D., & Lyerla, R. (2011). History of Statistics in Public Health at CDC, 1960–2010: the Rise of Statistical Evidence. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/su6004a7.htm