Chapter 2 - Measuring Health Status

Question 1

Incidence

Answer 1

Refers to the number (or rate) of new cases of a disease/condition in a population during a given period

Question 2

Prevalence

Answer 2

The number or proportion of cases a particular disease or condition present in a population at a given time

Question 3

Morbidity

Answer 3

I’ll health in an individual and levels of ill health within a population (often expressed through incidence, prevalence)

Question 4

Burden of Disease

Answer 4

A measure of the impact of disease, specifically it measures the gap between current health status and an idealic situation where everyone lives to old age free of disease and disability. Burden of disease is measured in a unit called DALY

Question 5

Disability Adjusted Life years (DALY)

Answer 5

A measure of the burden of disease. One DALY is equal to one year of healthy life lost due to illness and/or death. DALYs are calculated as the sum of the years of life lost due to premature death and the years lived with disability for people living with the health condition or its consequences.

Question 6

Life expectancy

Answer 6

The number of years of life, on average, remaining to an individual of death rates do not change. The most commonly used measure is life expectancy at birth

Question 7

Health Adjusted life expectancy (HALE)

Answer 7

The average length of time an individual at a specific age can expect to live in full health; that is time lived without the health consequences of disease or injury.

Question 8

Mortality

Answer 8

The number of deaths in a population at a given period

Question 9

Maternal Mortality

Answer 9

Death of a mother, during pregnancy, childbirth or within six weeks of delivery

Question 10

Maternal mortality Ratio

Answer 10

The number of mothers who die as a result of pregnancy, childbirth, or associated treatment per 100,000 women who give birth.

Question 11

Infant Mortality rate

Answer 11

The rate of death of infants before their first birthday, usually expressed per 1,000 live births

Question 12

Under Five Mortality Rate (U5MR)

Answer 12

The number of deaths of children under five years or age per 1,000 live births

Question 13

Health Status

Answer 13

An individuals or populations overall health, taking into account various aspects such as life expectancy, amount of disability and levels of disease risk factors

Question 14

Self Assesed Health Statuses

Answer 14

An individuals own opinion about how they feel about their own health, their state of mind and their life in general. It is commonly sourced from population surveys

Question 15

Years life lost to Disability (YLD)

Answer 15

A measure of how many healthy years of life are lost due to disease, injury or disability

Question 16

Years Of life Lost (YLL)

Answer 16

A measure of how many years of expected life are lost due to premature death.

Question 17

Health Indicators

Answer 17

Standard statistics that are used to measure and compare health status. (e.g life expectancy,mortality rates, morbidity rates)