Awesome Public Datasets – Government: U.S. CDC Public Health Datasets (CDC WONDER)

URL: https://wonder.cdc.gov/

An official CDC portal providing ad‑hoc query access to a wide range of U.S. public health datasets, including mortality, natality, cancer, environmental exposures, and population estimates.

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Overview

CDC WONDER (Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research) offers online databases and reporting tools for analyzing U.S. public health data. Users can run custom queries, generate tables, and download data files for epidemiologic and statistical analysis.

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Key Sections & Systems

WONDER Online Databases

Interactive databases with a rich ad‑hoc query system for:

• Generating custom tables and reports
• Filtering and stratifying by demographic, geographic, and temporal variables (where available)
• Accessing both final and some provisional data for certain series

Topic & Index Navigation

• Topics: Health-related applications and documentation sorted by topic
• A–Z Index: Health-related applications and documentation sorted alphabetically

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Features

1. Mortality & Death Data

All Ages

• Underlying Cause of Death

  • Source: U.S. death certificates
  • Coverage: Since 1968 (final)
  • Content: Underlying cause of death

• Multiple Cause of Death

  • Source: U.S. death certificates
  • Coverage: 1999 through last week (final & provisional)
  • Content: Underlying and contributing causes of death

• U.S.–Mexico Border Area Mortality

  • Coverage: 1999–2020
  • Content: Multiple causes of death (underlying and contributing) for U.S.–Mexico border areas

• Compressed Mortality

  • Coverage: 1968–2016
  • Content: Underlying cause of death in a “compressed” (aggregated) format for easier comparisons over time and geography

Fetal & Infant Deaths

• Fetal Deaths

  • Coverage: Since 2005
  • Content: Fetal death records (deaths during pregnancy of infants ≥20 weeks gestational age)

• Infant Deaths (Linked Birth/Infant Death)

  • Coverage: Since 1995
  • Content: Linked birth and infant death certificates for analysis of infant mortality by birth characteristics

2. Natality / Birth Data

• Births (Natality)
  • Coverage: 1995 through last month
  • Content: Birth certificate data, including demographic and health-related birth variables (as provided in the natality system)

3. Cancer Statistics

• Cancer Statistics
  • Coverage: Invasive cancer incidence and cancer deaths of U.S. residents since 1999
  • Content: Cancer registry case reports and mortality data for analysis by cancer type and other dimensions

4. HIV/AIDS

• AIDS Public Use Data
  • Coverage: 1981–2002
  • Content: HIV/AIDS Reporting System case reports as public-use data

5. Environment & Climate-Related Data

Environmental and climate datasets relevant to health:

• Heat Wave Days (May–September)

  • Dataset: National Climate Assessment – Extreme Heat Events
  • Coverage: 1981–2010
  • Content: Heat wave days during May–September

• Daily Air Temperatures & Heat Index

  • Dataset: NLDAS (North America Land Data Assimilation System)
  • Coverage: 1979–2011
  • Content: Daily air temperature and heat index values

• Daily Land Surface Temperatures

  • Dataset: MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) LST
  • Coverage: 2003–2008
  • Content: Daily land surface temperatures

• Daily Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5)

  • Dataset: Outdoor Air Quality – PM2.5
  • Coverage: 2003–2011
  • Content: Daily fine particulate matter (PM2.5, µg/m³)

• Daily Sunlight (Insolation)

  • Dataset: NLDAS
  • Coverage: 1979–2011
  • Content: Daily sunlight/insolation

• Daily Precipitation

  • Dataset: NLDAS
  • Coverage: 1979–2011
  • Content: Daily precipitation (mm)

6. Tuberculosis Surveillance

• Online Tuberculosis Information System (OTIS)
  • Coverage: TB case report data since 1993
  • Content: Tuberculosis case data for surveillance and analysis

7. Population Data

• Bridged-Race Population Estimates

  • Coverage: Since 1990
  • Content: Bridged-race population estimates used for consistent race categories in rate calculations

• Single-Race Population (from Census)

  • Content: Population counts by single-race categories sourced from the U.S. Census (used for denominators in rate calculations)

(The population section in the provided extract is truncated; additional population datasets may be available on the site.)

8. Access & Query Features

• Web-based query tools for each dataset
• Ad-hoc table and report generation
• Ability to filter/stratify by time period, geography, demographics, and other variables (varies by database)
• Download options for analysis in external tools (e.g., CSV/flat files via query outputs)

9. Documentation & Updates

• FAQ and help documentation for using WONDER query systems
• “What’s New” section for data & site updates and changes to the platform

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Pricing

• Cost: Access to CDC WONDER public health datasets is free.

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Category & Tags

• Category: Themed directories
• Tags: datasets, health, government
• Brand: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)