Health indicators are quantifiable characteristics of a population which researchers use as supporting evidence for describing the health of a population. Typically, researchers will use a

survey methodology Survey methodology is "the study of survey methods". As a field of applied statistics concentrating on human-research surveys, survey methodology studies the sampling of individual units from a population and associated techniques of survey d ...

to gather information about a population sample, use

statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...

in an attempt to generalize the information collected to the entire population, and then use the statistical analysis to make a statement about the health of the population. Health indicators are often used by governments to guide health care policy or to make goals for improving population health.

Characteristics

A health indicator which will be used internationally to describe

global health Global health is the health of populations in a worldwide context; it has been defined as "the area of study, research, and practice that places a priority on improving health and achieving equity in health for all people worldwide". Problems th ...

should have the following characteristics: # It should be defined in such a way that it can be measured uniformly internationally. # It must have statistical validity. # The indicator must be data which can feasibly be collected in a reasonable amount of time. # The analysis of the data must result in a recommendation on which people can make changes to improve health

Health indicator examples

*This is not a comprehensive list of health indicators.

Health status

Life expectancy at birth Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, organisation, metabolism, growth, adaptation, respons ...

** Number of years a newborn is expected to live based on current mortality trends. * Infant mortality rate ** Number of infant deaths (children under 1 year) per 1,000 live births in a year. * Neonatal mortality rate ** Number of newborn deaths (children under 28 days) per 1,000 births in a year. * Maternal mortality ratio ** Number of women who die due to pregnancy or birth complications per 100,000 births in a year. * Mortality from

cardiovascular disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. CVDs constitute a class of diseases that includes: coronary artery diseases (e.g. angina, heart attack), heart failure, hypertensive heart disease, rheumati ...

s *

Cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

incidence *

Diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

incidence * Depression incidence * Disability adjusted life years (DALY) ** A measurement of premature death or lower quality of life due to disability. *

Activities of daily living Activities of daily living (ADLs) is a term used in healthcare to refer to an individual's daily self-care activities. Health professionals often use a person's ability or inability to perform ADLs as a measure of their Performance status, functi ...

(ADL) ** A measurement of ability to self-sustain based on ability to perform daily activities such as dressing, feeding, and grooming.

Risk factors

* Alcohol consumption * Smoking in adults * Physical exercise habits * Condom use *

Obesity Obesity is a medical condition, considered by multiple organizations to be a disease, in which excess Adipose tissue, body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it can potentially have negative effects on health. People are classifi ...

rate *

Asthma Asthma is a common long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wh ...

rate *

High blood pressure Hypertension, also known as high blood pressure, is a long-term medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms itself. It is, however, a major ri ...

rate *

Air pollution Air pollution is the presence of substances in the Atmosphere of Earth, air that are harmful to humans, other living beings or the environment. Pollutants can be Gas, gases like Ground-level ozone, ozone or nitrogen oxides or small particles li ...

levels * Exclusive breastfeeding rate ** Number of mothers who only feed their infants breast milk for the first 6 months of life per a unit of measurement. * Child stunting rate ** Number of children who have a low height for their age (more than two standard deviations below the international reference) due to poor nutrition per a unit of measurement. * Child wasting rate ** Number of children who have a low weight for their height (more than two standard deviations below the international reference) due to poor nutrition per a unit of measurement.

Health systems

* Healthcare coverage ** Number of people with some type of health care coverage/insurance per unit of measurement. * Hospital beds per capita * Doctors per capita * Nurses per capita * Hospital readmission rates * Health expenditure as percentage of GDP ** Percentage of a nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) used toward healthcare. * People with HIV aware of their status * Breast cancer screening rate * Birth registration rate ** Number of people with a government- verified birth certificate per unit of measurement. * Death registration rate ** Number of people with a government- verified death certificate per unit of measurement.

Applications

Health indicators are commonly used to make large-scale or community health-related decisions. By describing the current health of a population, the areas that need improvement become evident, and policy-makers and health professionals can work to fill these gaps. Once interventions are put in place to try to improve the health of a population, health indicators can then be used to evaluate the success of the intervention. Additionally, health indicators can highlight health disparities in a population. Differences in health indicators among genders, races, ethnic groups, socioeconomic classes, and other groups can be used to guide policy and interventions that will bring health equity in the future. Health indicators are used by many institutions, including international organizations such as the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

and

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

(WHO). They are also used by smaller-scale community health organizations, hospitals, and other medical and public health organizations such as the Center for Disease Control (CDC),

National Institute of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Servic ...

(NIH)
The African Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Partnerships
(ACHAP), an
Global Alliance for Africa

References

External links

World Health Statistics 2012 Indicator compendium
created by the

World Health Statistics 2012 Global Health Indicators

Health Indicators

list of health indicators
created by the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

HealthyPeople.gov
created by the

United States Department of Health and Human Services The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the US federal government created to protect the health of the US people and providing essential human services. Its motto is ...

Community Health Status Indicators
, a project of the Centers for Disease Control

a project of

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...

HealthIndicators.gov
a database of US health indicators {{Authority control Biostatistics Medical statistics Pharmaceutical statistics Indicators