Chapter 2

• Explain health status?


  An individual's or a population's overall health (and wellbeing), taking into account various aspects such as life expectancy, amount of disability and levels of disease risk factors 
• What are health indicators?


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


  The number of years of life, on average, remaining to an individual at a particular age of if death rates do not change. The most commonly used measure is life expectancy at birth
• What is mortality?


  The number of deaths in a population in a given period
• What is years of life lost (YLL)?


   A measure of how many years of expected life are lost due to premature death - (death that occurs before the average age of death in a certain population). 
• What is years of life lost due to disability (YLD)?


  A measure of how many healthy years of life are lost due to disease, injury or disability.
• What is incidence?


  Refers to the number (or rate) of new cases of disease or condition present in a population at a given time
• What is prevalence?


  The number or proportion of cases of a particular disease or condition present in a population at a given time (AIHW, 2008), – also total number of cases. 
• What is morbidity?


  Ill health in an individual and levels of ill health within a population (often expressed through incidence, prevalence
• What is burden of disease?


  A measure of the impact of diseases and injuries; specifically it measures the gap between a current health status and an ideal situation where everyone lives to an old age free of diseases and disability. Burden of disease is measured in a unit called DALY. 
• What is disability adjusted life years (DALY)?


  A measure of burden of disease. One DALY is equal to one year of healthy  life lost due to illness and/or death. DALY 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. 
• What is the equation for DALY?


  YLL + YLD = DALY
• What are hospital separations?


  Episodes of hospital care that start with admission and end in transfer, discharge or death.  
• What are chronic conditions?


  Any disease or condition that lasts a long time (usually longer than six months). It usually can't be cured and therefore requires ongoing treatment and management. Examples include arthritis and asthma. 
• What are core activities?


  Relates to three main areas of life; self-car, mobility and communication. 
• What is core activity limitation?


  When an individual has difficulty or requires assistance, with any of the three core activities (self-care, mobility and communication). 
• What is psychological distress?


   Relates to unpleasant feelings and emotions that affect an individual's level of functioning. 
• How is psychological distress measured?


  Using the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10).
• What is the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale?


   A scale of psychological distress based on the answers to 10 questions about negative emotional and mental states in the four weeks prior to the interview. This system classifies psychological distress as low, moderate, high and very high.  
• What are rates of hospitalisation?


  Rate of which individuals enter hospital due to disease or injures
• What is self-assessed health status?


  What you rate your health depending on your own thought and knowledge of health and wellbeing/how an individual perceives their health status – usually using the terms poor, fair, good, very good and excellent