U3AOS1 - Health status indicators

Question 1

What is incidence?

Answer 1

The number of new cases of a condition during a given period of time.

Question 2

What is prevalence?

Answer 2

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

Question 3

What is morbidity?

Answer 3

Refers to ill-health in an individual and the levels of ill-health in a population or group.

Question 4

What is burden of disease?

Answer 4

A measure between 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.

Question 5

What is Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs)?

Answer 5

A measure of burden of disease, one DALY equals one year of healthy life lost due to premature death and time lived with illness, disease or injury.

Question 6

What is years of life lost (YLL)?

Answer 6

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

Question 7

What is years lost due to disability (YLD)?

Answer 7

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

Question 8

What is life expectancy?

Answer 8

An indication of how long a person can expect to live, it is the number of years of life remaining to a person at a particular age if death rates do not change.

Question 9

What is Health Adjusted Life Expectancy (HALE)?

Answer 9

A measure of burden of disease based on life expectancy at birth, but including an adjustment for time spent in poor health. 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.

Question 10

What is mortality rate?

Answer 10

Refers to death in a population. This is usually expressed per 100,000 people.

Question 11

What is maternal mortality?

Answer 11

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

Question 12

What is maternal mortality ratio?

Answer 12

The number of mothers who die as a result of pregnancy or childbirth per 100,000 live births.

Question 13

What is infant mortality?

Answer 13

The death of a child between birth and their first birthday.

Question 14

What is infant mortality rate?

Answer 14

The rate of deaths of infants between birth and their first birthday, usually expressed per 1000 live births.

Question 15

What is under 5 mortality?

Answer 15

The death of a child under 5 years of age.

Question 16

What is under 5 mortality rate?

Answer 16

The rate of deaths occurring in children under 5 years of age per 1000 live births.

Question 17

What is self-assessed health status?

Answer 17

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. It is commonly sourced from population surveys.