terveystietoihin

Terveystietoihin refers to data that concerns a person’s health and well-being. It includes medical records, diagnoses, treatment histories, prescriptions, laboratory and imaging results, genetic information, mental health data, and, in some contexts, lifestyle or functional information recorded within health care or welfare services. The term is used in everyday language, health informatics, and legal and ethical discussions about who may access such data and for what purposes.

Terveystietoihin are typically collected by health care providers, laboratories, public health authorities, insurers, and researchers. They are used to provide and coordinate care, support clinical decision-making, monitor population health, plan services, and enable research and quality improvement. Data sharing is common but usually subject to strict rules, including consent where required, or formal approvals, and limits based on purpose and the need to protect individuals’ privacy.

The processing of health data is highly regulated. In the European Union, health data are treated as sensitive personal data and require a well-founded legal basis, safeguards for purpose limitation and data minimization, and respect for data subject rights. In Finland, national provisions on health registers and sector-specific regulations coexist with GDPR requirements, emphasizing data security, pseudonymization, access controls, and ethical oversight for research uses.

Risks associated with tervetietoihin include privacy breaches, reidentification, and misuse. Safeguards involve robust governance, secure data handling practices, transparency to individuals, informed consent where appropriate, and mechanisms for accountability and auditing.

See also: health data, data protection, health informatics, privacy in health care.