Community Health Statistics Unit

Health Data

The Community Health Statistics Unit (CHSU) offers health statistics, supporting decisions and prevention through detailed reports, visualizations, and predictive analytics.

Community Morbidity and Mortality Profiles

Community Morbidity and Mortality Profiles contain a variety of health-related information in San Diego County and its communities. We currently have data for 2016 to 2023 deaths, hospitalizations, emergency department discharges, in-patient treatment discharges, physical rehabilitation, and skilled nursing facility discharges. Starting in data year 2023, the Community Morbidity and Mortality Profiles are divided into two, separate files - mortality (death) and morbidity (hospitalization, emergency department discharge, and in-patient discharges).

The 2023 Community Morbidity and Mortality Profiles are available online as dynamic Tableau dashboards, linked. These dashboards help to visualize the health data by the lenses of health equity: age, sex, geography, socioeconomic status, and race/ethnicity. There are over 70 conditions with four outcomes available (death, hospitalization, emergency department discharge, and in-patient treatment discharges). Data are available for the Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) Regions and their respective subregional areas (SRAs), as well as for the 18 municipalities and the unincorporated area of San Diego County. Selected tabs can be downloaded as images and the entire profile can be downloaded as PDFs or PowerPoint slides.

Please click anywhere in the bars below to open it and access the links for prior years of  the Community Morbidity and Mortality Dashboards and Excel Workbooks.

The Community Profiles Age-Adjusted Trends are interactive Tableau dashboards that help visualize the age-adjusted annual rates of disease and injury by geography, sex, and race/ethnicity in San Diego County. Approximately 70 conditions with 4 outcomes are available for the Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) Regions and their subregional areas (SRAs), the 18 municipalities and the unincorporated area of San Diego County. Data have been updated through 2023.

Age-adjusted rates represent the rates expected for a population having the same age distribution (same age structure) as a reference population. These ‘age-standardized’ rates allow comparisons between different populations at one point in time, or one population at different times by controlling for age. For example, age-adjusted rates can help identify differences in rates of disease due to environmental factors, behavioral risk factors, or social determinants of health.

The 2023 Community Profiles Data Guide and Data Dictionary Dashboards contain technical notes for users of the Community Profiles’ morbidity and mortality data. The data guide provides information for data users, describes geographic units used in health data, explains rates, age-adjusted rates, and confidence intervals. Additionally, the guide lists the data sources used to create the Community Profiles data and a variable guide for the data. There are four data dictionaries for the Community Profiles. The first dashboard is a morbidity data dictionary dashboard, that provides a list of Clinical Classifications Software Refined (CCSR) category codes and descriptions, and ICD-10 CM codes and descriptions used to categorize each condition with an emergency department discharge, hospitalization, or in-patient treatment outcome. The second dashboard is a mortality data dictionary, which provides a list of ICD-10 mortality codes and descriptions that were used to categorize each condition with a death outcome. The third dashboard lists the classification type of each condition and outcome. The final dashboard is a data standards dashboard where you can find the standard, link to to the standard, and notes for each condition and outcome. 

2023 Community Profiles Data Guide and Data Dictionary Dashboards

Please click anywhere in the bars below to open it and access the links for prior years of  the Data Guides and Dictionaries.

For previous years' health data, dating back to 2000, visit our  archives.

For machine-readable data, visit the County of San Diego's data access portal.

Health Briefs

All Cause Morbidity Dashboard

Preventable Hospitalizations

The Preventable Hospitalizations Dashboard displays potentially preventable hospitalizations among San Diego County resident adults by race, sex, and geography defined by Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's (AHRQ) prevention quality indicators (PQIs) version 2022. AHRQ's prevention quality indicators are defined as hospital discharges due to specific chronic and acute conditions that could have been prevented if the individual received proper outpatient care. Hospital discharges are based on patient residency not on hospital location, and these indicators are not a reflection of hospital quality but rather, access to high quality outpatient care. PQIs are only one measure to identify the quality of patient care in the community.

Preventable Hospitalizations Dashboard

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs)

Both Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs) impact health outcomes in adulthood. ACEs are potentially traumatic experiences that occur before the age of 18. PCEs are defined as having supportive and nurturing environments in childhood, such as strong peer relationships, supportive school environments, or safe neighborhoods. Current research indicates that experiencing a higher number of ACEs is associated with chronic health conditions, mental illness, and health risk behaviors, while PCEs are strongly associated with improved mental and physical health in adulthood. Further, PCEs may have protective effects against adverse health and well-being outcomes in adulthood among adults who were exposed to ACEs. Currently, ACEs are measured through a variety of surveys. The data provided in the Childhood Experiences dashboard are from the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) and the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS).

The interactive Childhood Experiences Tableau dashboard helps to visualize demographic and health outcome data disaggregated by ACE and PCE scores for San Diego County adults. The accompanying brief provides a background of ACEs and PCEs and their relationship to health and well-being. Additionally, the brief highlights the disparities found in ACEs and PCEs prevalence among adults in San Diego County.

Childhood Experiences in San Diego County Brief (June 2024)

Childhood Experiences in San Diego County Dashboard

Non-Hispanic Asian and Non-Hispanic Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Health and Well-Being

Tribal Health and Well-Being

3-4-50: Chronic Disease in San Diego County

Chronic diseases are now the major cause of death and disability worldwide, having surpassed infectious diseases and injuries. This reflects an improvement in the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases and significant changes in dietary habits, physical activity levels, and tobacco use in the population.² Three behaviors (poor diet, physical inactivity, and tobacco use) contribute to four chronic diseases (cancer, heart disease and stroke, type 2 diabetes, and pulmonary diseases such as asthma) that cause over 50 percent of all deaths worldwide. This is the foundation of the 3-4-50 concept.³ The influence of these three unhealthy behaviors may be seen in San Diego County as these four chronic diseases are the most common causes of death and disability in our region.

Use the "Expand 3-4-50 Products" button below and navigate to the product of interest: 3-4-50 trended dataset, presentation, short briefs, detailed briefs, and chronic disease maps, or use the "Collapse" button to hide the content.

Payer Source Dashboards

The Payer Source Dashboards display hospitalization and emergency department data by expected payer sources, including Medicaid/Medi-Cal and Medicare. Hospitalization and emergency department data includes demographics, admission summaries, and primary diagnoses by race/ethnicity, age group, and sex. These data are specific to residents in San Diego County who were admitted into the emergency department or hospital with health insurance covered by Medicaid/Medi-Cal and/or Medicare.

Payer Source Dashboard: Emergency Department Discharges (2021-2023)

Payer Source Dashboard: Hospitalizations (2021-2023)

¹  World Health Organization (WHO). “The Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health.” http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/media/en/gsfs_general.pdf (Accessed September 22, 2011).

² 3Four50, www.3four50.com (Accessed September 22, 2011).

Dashboard instructions here.