1. Measurements of Health Status

2. Measurements of Health Status
Health status: is an individual’s or population’s overall health- taking into account various aspects such as life expectancy, amount of disability and levels of disease risk factors. Health status can be determined using a variety of statistical measures. These statistical measures can assess the rate of illness or disease, disability, death, cost of health care etc.
AIHW – reports on Australia’s health every two years
WHO – is provided this information to make comparisons between countries worldwide

3. There are a lots of ways to measure health status, these include:
Burden of Disease
Health Adjusted Life Expectancy (HALE)
Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs)
Life Expectancy
Under-five Mortality Rate
Mortality
Morbidity
Incidence
Prevalence

4. LE - Life Expectancy This is a statistical measure which refers to:
An indication of how long a person can expect to live; it is the number of years remaining to a person at a particular age if death rates do not change
NOTE: Life expectancy does not make
allowances for illness or disability.
What environmental and inherited factors may help determine a person’s life expectancy?
Inherited: gender, race, genetic potential, predisposition to disease
Environmental: access to healthcare, sanitation, safe water, culture, education, socioeconomic status, nutrition, relationships and family, physical activity, illness, use of licit and illicit drugs, employment, personal values, attitudes, knowledge and skills

5. Mortality
Mortality refers to the number of deaths in a population - for example, a particular illness, disease or environmental factor (motor vehicle accidents). Mortality data is commonly expressed as a rate out of 1000 or
Mortality data can also be broken down on the basis of age, gender, race of living environment (eg. city vs. country)

6. YLL - Years of Life Lost
This is a statistical measure used to express the number of years of life lost due to premature death. YLL is calculated by using the projected life expectancy data; any death that occurs before the projected age is considered YLL. Life expectancy – age of death = YLL TASK: Complete TYK qu 1-11 page 59

7. HALE - Health Adjusted Life Expectancy
This is a statistical measure which indicates how many years an individual is expected to live in full health and without illness or disability. HALE = Life expectancy – unhealthy years

8. Morbidity
Morbidity refers to ill health in an individual and the levels of ill health in a population or group Commonly expressed as a rate out of 1000 or

9. YLD - Years Lost to Disability
This is a statistical measure used to express the number of healthy years of life lost due to illness, injury or disability. Question: What is meant by the term disability???

11. Incidence and prevalence
Incidence: refers to the number of new cases of a disease / condition in a population during a given period
Prevalence: refers to the number or proportion of cases of a particular disease or condition present in a population at a given time

12. Prevalence vs. Incidence
Incidence – The number of new cases of an illness or event during a given period.
Prevalence – the number or proportion of cases or incidents in a population at a given time
Incidence is like a stream – when the disease or disability occurs
Mortality empties the lake
Prevalence is like a lake – the total pool of incidences together
Prevalence of a disease or illness refers to how many people currently have the disease.

13. Burden of Disease
Burden of disease is a broad term which encompasses many statistical measures.
Burden of disease is 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 DALY. The amount or rate of illness and disease in a country.
Can be used to assess the impact of an individual disease or can assess population health as a whole.
Question: How do you think cardiovascular disease contributes to the burden of disease in Australia?
Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of disability, with around 1.4 million Australians estimated to have disability associated with cardiovascular conditions. Combining both the burden from premature death and the extent of its disability, CVD was estimated to account for 18% of the overall disease burden in Australia in Cardiovascular disease is the most expensive disease group in terms of direct health-care expenditure, at $5.9 billion.

14. Burden of disease
The impact of a particular disease or condition in relation to the amount of healthy life lost due to premature death, illness or disability
Provides information about health conditions with the biggest impact on Australians and where the most gains can be made, so that health resources can be allocated effectively

15. DALY - Disability Adjusted Life Years
This is a statistical measure which was developed to provide a more accurate picture of health status. DALY is 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. combines the impact of both YLL and YLD (death and disability). Again, DALY is often expressed as a rate out of or One DALY is equal to one year of life. YLL + YLD = DALY TASK: Complete TYK 1-4, AYK 5-9 page 64
Therefore the DALY combines in one measure the:
time lived with disability and
- time lost due to premature mortality.