INDICATORS

LUXEMBOURG
Data availability by Country Report: 69% of ECHI shortlist indicators are available
in international data sources. The ECHI shortlist sections for which there are most data
missing are Health Status and Health Determinants.
Data availability by ECHIM Survey: 58% of ES indicators are available at the national
level. Data availability is significantly low regarding Health Status section. The main
reason for this is that there has not been nationally representative HIS in Luxembourg,
and the ES calls for prevalence data for most of those indicators. In Luxembourg, data
are mostly incidence, since hospital discharges are the main source of data. In addition
to that, data for various musculoskeletal disorders are lacking almost completely.
While there has not been HES either, Health Determinants indicators are also poorly
available.
Data availability in European context: Data availability in Luxembourg is significantly
lower than European average by ES, especially regarding the sections Health Status and
Health Determinants. The obvious reason is that no national level HES or even HIS
have been conducted in Luxembourg. On the other hand, data availability by the CR
is very close to European average. Health Care data have higher scoring of availability,
since there are register data available.
Overall situation of data sources: The administrative structure of statistical system is
decentralised, responsibilities are shared by the Ministry of Health (www.ms.etat.lu),
the Social Insurance System, the Ministry of Social Security via its General Inspection
of Social Security (IGSS, www.mss.public.lu) and the National Statistical Institute
(STATEC, www.statec.lu). IGSS hosts most registers, but the Cancer Register
(www.cancer-registry.lu) is a separate organisation. Other organisations include e.g.
Luxembourg Information Network on Drugs and Drug Additions (RELIS, www.relis.lu).
Implementation of EHIS is planned to start in 2009, as a part of the first national HIS.
Record linkage is not possible because most of the registers (causes of death, perinatal
health) do not register the personal identification number. It is possible to link different
health data sources with the personal identification number (matricule) but a special
authorisation is required by the National Commission for Data Protection. Linking
health registers with use of personal identification number would surely improve the
quality of information but the data protection law makes it difficult at the moment.
Health reporting: Different organisations publish various topic specific reports online,
but in French or German only: Ministry of Social Security (Social Security report),
Ministry of Health (Causes of Death, Health Behaviour in School-aged Children 2001
(on WHO methodology, in German)), RELIS (Drug report), Cancer Register (various
studies and statistics, also in English).
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