Site Navigation

• The top navigation menu is the same on every NJSHAD page, so you should always be able to find your way back home.
  

Symbols

• Throughout NJSHAD you will see down arrows and Xs.
• Clicking will open or expand the content below it.
• Clicking will close or collapse the content below it.

• In the Dataset Query section of NJSHAD, you'll see help icons.
• Hover over the blue question marks and you'll get a pop-up with more information.
• Click the globes to go to another page with a lot more information.

Who's responsible?

• At the bottom of each indicator report and query result page, below a solid gray line and above the dark grey footer, you'll see italicized text with a program name, address, URL, and possibly contact info.
  
• That is the program in NJDOH that's responsible for the information on that page. They may not necessarily have put the info into NJSHAD, but they are the original source of the data or information.
• If you have questions about the information on a page (other than website-related issues), that's who you should contact for more information.

Hover Over

• Throughout NJSHAD, you can hover your mouse over certain text to see a pop-up with more information about where that link will take you or get more information about an image.

Graph and Map Secrets

• In NJSHAD graphs and maps, if you hover your mouse pointer over a data point, the corresponding data (rate, numerator, denominator, etc.) will pop-up.
  

• Let's say you have a graph for four causes of death over the years 2010 to 2020 and you decide you only want to see two of the causes. Go to the legend/key at the bottom of the graph and click the causes you no longer want to see and they'll disappear from the graph!
  
• Click them again and they'll come back.
  
• This works for any category, not just causes of death.

• ⇦ In the top left corner of each map are tools to zoom in (+)
  and zoom out (-).
  
  4 arrows: zoom way out.
  Rounded arrow: reset map to original size.
• ⇦ In the top right corner of each map is a control panel.
  Click the X to shrink the panel.
  Click None under Base Map to remove the terrain layer.
  Click the down arrows to download the GeoJSON files.

Rearranging Columns

• All NJSHAD table columns can be moved from left to right to rearrange the order in which they are displayed.
• Click the column header, drag the column to where you want it, and let go.

Sorting, Hiding, and Filtering Table Columns

• All NJSHAD tables have three dots in the column headers that can be used to sort and hide columns and to filter rows.
• Clicking on the arrow will bring up this menu:
  .
• The first two choices, obviously, sort the table by the data in that column: low value to high value or vice versa.
• Clicking or hovering over Columns will show a list of the column names with checkboxes.
  
• Unchecking a box will hide that column from the table. Checking the box will bring it back.
• Clicking or hovering over Filter will show a selection box that lets you only show rows that contain certain values.

Clicking this link will take you off the NJSHAD website.
Clicking this link will take you to a PDF document.
MP4 files will not play in browser without plug-in. Download and play in Windows Media Player or other video viewer on your computer.

• How to use the query system and dataset-specific help

Help! I don't understand NJSHAD. Where do I begin?

• Start with the overview About NJSHAD to get an overall understanding of what NJSHAD is and how you can use it to get the data you need. That page also has links to more detailed overviews About Community Profiles, About Indicator Reports, and About Dataset Queries.

Why do most death/mortality indicator reports stop at 2020?

• There is a disconnect between population estimates from before and after the 2020 Census that can show false "jumps" in mortality rates. The 2010 to 2020 Intercensal Estimates will become the official estimates for the 2010-2020 decade and are currently scheduled to become available in 2025. They are produced by modifying the Vintage 2020 estimates to account for differences between these estimates and the results of the 2020 Census. The result is a consistent time series from the 2010 Census to the 2020 Census.
  
  After the intercensal population estimates become available, 2010-2020 mortality rates in NJSHAD will be recalculated and rates for 2021 onward will be added to indicator reports.

Where can I get a copy of or make a change to a birth, death, or marriage certificate?

• Individual certificates are available from and managed by the Office of Vital Statistics and Registry.

Where can I find mental health data?

• There is limited mental health data in the NJBRFS query. For more data, contact the NJ Department of Human Services' Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services.

Where can I find data and information about services available for disabilities and Medicaid?

• These programs are also located in the NJ Department of Human Services.

Where can I find data about hospitals and other facilities?

• For Patient Safety Reporting, Hospital Report Card, Healthcare Associated Infections, and other data at the hospital level, visit the Office of Health Care Quality Assessment website. For other info on various types of health facilities, go to Health Facilities or Health Care Financing.

Where can I find population estimates, per capita personal income, and unemployment data?

• The State Data Center, located in the NJ Department of Labor and Workforce Development, maintains these data.
• The US Census Bureau's website also has numerous tools for accessing this type of data.
• State and county population estimates are also available on CDC WONDER.

Where can I get the number of births or deaths for a specific county or town in NJ?

• The NJSHAD query system allows users to create customized tables of state, county, and municipality data. When you're on a Query Builder page, select the Step that says "geographic area of residence" and follow the instructions.
• Go to Demographic and Geographic Data Availability in Query Modules to see which datasets have municipality- and county-level data.

When will the next year of data be available?

• Data are posted to the query system within a few days of it being sent to the NJSHAD team. New data files are usually received about a year after the previous data year was posted online. At times, datasets in the query system may be more up-to-date than what is displayed in indicator reports and community profiles.

I'm doing a Community Health Assessment and I need to know...

• What are the leading causes of morbidity in NJ, my county, and my town?
• What are the top health issues facing people in NJ, a certain county, or a particular town?
  Unfortunately, we don't have an answer for that. Morbidity (the prevalence or incidence of a disease or condition) data are not available for all diseases, so there is no easy way to rank them. Additionally, there is no standard definition of what conditions should be included when ranking morbidity, like there is for mortality. In other words, is it only life-threatening conditions or do we include mild and moderate conditions?
  
  Top health issues present a similar problem. There is no standard definition. Are you only considering diagnosable conditions or are you also considering things like lack of health insurance coverage, access to primary care doctors, or the availability of fresh fruits and vegetables in the area?
  
  For these types of questions, you may be able to get some guidance from the county or local health department or a community organization engaged in health improvement practices in that area. Community Health Improvement Plans (CHIPs), which identify priority public health issues and strategies to address these complex and persistent challenges, are required for all 21 counties and some large municipalities. Your area's CHIP may provide the answers you need.
  
  If you already have particular health conditions or issues in mind (e.g., obesity, smoking prevalence) and you now need data, our Additional Data Resources page and the Healthy New Jersey project provide links to available data.

Where can I find disease incidence and prevalence data?

• State law requires that certain diseases, such as cancer and over 100 communicable diseases, be reported to NJDOH. However, most diseases and conditions (e.g., heart disease, diabetes) do not have to be reported.
• NJSHAD includes data query modules for
  • HIV/AIDS
  • STDs
  • Communicable diseases that are required to be reported to the Communicable Disease Service
• Cancer Epidemiology Services has their own Web-based data query system for cancer data which displays data tables, graphs, and maps of cancer incidence and mortality rates.
• Prevalence estimates for several non-reportable chronic diseases and conditions can be obtained through the NJBRFS query module.
• Estimates of the incidence or prevalence of non-reportable diseases and conditions are sometimes available from the office that has programmatic responsibility for that particular topic.

Do race groups include Hispanics? Does the Asian race category include Pacific Islanders?

• Unless otherwise indicated, query options and summary statistics provided on NJSHAD adhere to HHS Implementation Guidance on Data Collection Standards for Race, Ethnicity, Sex, Primary Language, and Disability Status. If any of the five minimum race categories is not explicitly listed in NJSHAD, that group is in the "Other" or "Other race" category. If Hispanic/Latino is listed along with race categories, then each race category is implicitly "non-Hispanic."

I'm a researcher. I need a dataset I can slice and dice myself.

• If you need microlevel data, personal identifiers, or variables not included in the NJSHAD query system, visit NJDOH's Institutional Review Board for more information.

Presentations about NJSHAD

• NJSHAD Brochure (updated: June 2018)
• Data Visualization Poster (June 2019)
• Local Health Department Webinar Series (Sept 2017)
• Using NJSHAD for Enviromental Public Health Tracking (June 2017)
• Using NJSHAD for Health Disparity Data (April 2017)

Printing and Exporting Tables, Maps, and Graphs

• Printing and Exporting NJSHAD Tables
• Copy/Paste procedure for NJSHAD graphics into Powerpoint, Word, or other applications

Terminology

• Public Health Terms and Acronyms
• NJSHAD Terms and Acronyms

Public Health Statistics Topics

• Health Event Counts
• Health Event Rates
• Age-Adjustment Weights and Age-Adjusted Rates
• Life Expectancy
• Years of Potential Life Lost (YPLL)


• Allocation of Data by Residence or Occurrence
• Convert Grams to Pounds


• Statistical Measures and Definitions Summary
• Timeliness and Accuracy of Public Health Data

General Statistics Topics

• Confidence Intervals
• Reliability and Validity
• Maps and Data Grouping Methods