ABSTRACT

Chapters 9 and 10 were devoted to the epidemiological measurement of various aspects of health of an individual and to the interpretation of such measurements. However, the term health is used as much for communities as for individuals. A different set of instruments are required to measure the health of a group of people. Such a measurement helps to compare the state of health over a period in the same community, among people of different social and ethnic groups, among people residing in different areas, and among people of different biological groups, such as of different age, of different gender, of different race, or with different health conditions. It helps to make statements such as “the state of health of children in Kenya will be better in the year 2020 than it was in the year 1998,” “the health of elders in Japan is better than that in Bulgaria,” and “the health of cardiovascular disease patients is better than that of cancer patients.” Although our discussion in this chapter is oriented to population, many of the rates we present here are also applicable to clinical studies on patients or small groups of subjects. Some of our examples clarify this aspect.