1.4 Indicators used to measure and understand health status Flashcards
Health Status
An individual’s or a population’s overall health, taking into account various aspects such as life expectancy, amount of disability and levels of disease risk factors.
- Data can be gathered and used to guide governments and other organizations in developing and funding strategies that attempt to improve health status (decrease mortality rates, increase life expectancy)
Self-Assessed Health Status:
A measure based on a person’s own opinion about how they feel about their health and wellbeing, their state of mind and their life in general.
- Data is often collected from population surveys and includes ranking their health status as excellent, very good, fair, or poor
- Useful measure of a person’s current health status and provides a broad picture of a population’s overall H+W.
Life Expectancy:
An indication of how long a person can expect to live if death rates do not change.
HALE (Health Adjusted Life Expectancy):
It is the number of years in full health that a person can expect to live, based on current rates of ill health and mortality.
Mortality:
Refers to deaths, particularly at a group or population level.
Mortality Rates:
The measure of the proportion of a population who die in a one-year period (usually per 100,000) from a specific cause, or all causes.
Infant Mortality Rate:
Measures the rate of deaths of infants between birth and their first birthday, usually expressed per 1000 live births.
Under Five Mortality Rate (U5MR):
Measures the number of children that die before their fifth birthday, usually expressed per 1000 live births.
Maternal Mortality Ratio:
The number of mothers who die as a result of pregnancy or childbirth per 100,000 live births.
Morbidity:
Refers to ill health in an individual and levels of ill health within a population or group.
Incidence:
The number or rate of new cases of a disease during a specifies time; usually a 12-month period.
Prevalence:
The number or rate of cases of a particular disease or condition present in a population at a given time.
Burden of Disease:
A measure of the impact of diseases and injuries, specifically it measures the gap between current health status and an ideal situation where everyone lives to an old age free of disease and disability. Burden of disease is measured in a unit called the DALY.
Disability Adjusted Life Year (DALY):
A measure of burden of disease. One DALY is equal to one year of healthy life lost due to premature death and time lived with illness, disease, or injury.
- Years of Life Lost (YLL) (premature death):
A measure of how many years of expected life are lost due to premature death.
