Effective environmental public health tracking (EPHT) utilizes health effects, environmental hazard, and human exposure data to paint a picture of the relationship between the environment and health. Analyzing patterns and trends in health effects and environmental factors and their interaction is critical for identifying actions that will improve the health of communities.

Indicators
Health effects indicators for EPHT were developed by the national EPHT Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and include:

• Asthma Hospitalizations
• Birth and Reproductive Outcomes
• Birth Defects
• Cancer
• Childhood Lead Poisoning
• Heart Attack (Acute Myocardial Infarction) Hospitalizations

Data
Nationally consistent data and measures (NCDMs) for each indicator are being generated by state EPHT programs for inclusion in the national EPHT Network. NCDMs for the following indicators for New Hampshire are available on the Environmental Health Data Integration Network (EHDIN).

• Asthma Hospitalizations Data
• Birth Defects Data
• Birth and Reproductive Outcomes Data
• Cancer Data
• Childhood Lead Poisoning Data
• Heart Attack Hospitalizations (Acute Myocardial Infarction) Data

Metadata
All data included in EHDIN contains metadata. Metadata are often described as "data about data". Descriptive metadata include information that describes the content, quality, and context of a data resource for the purpose of facilitating identification and discovery. It may reference additional information like quality assurance documents and data dictionaries. By providing information about the data, descriptive metadata helps a user decide if a data resource is appropriate for the intended use.

Metadata provides the following information:

• Why the data was created or collected
• How the data was created or collected
• Who created or collected the data
• When the data was last updated
• How the data can be obtained

Metadata for asthma and heart attack hospitalizations in NH EPHT