This article develops two scales for measuring international health status, which are proposed as alternatives to the most popular current measure, the infant mortality rate. The first scale is derived from the Physical Quality of Life Index and is called Health Status I (HSI). It is an interval scale combining infant mortality, life expectancy, and the literacy rate. The second scale is called Health Status 2 (HS2), and is composed of HSI plus two other indicators -death rate for persons aged 65 and older and mental hospital admissions. The virtues of HSI and HS2 are discussed in relation to the current practice of using the infant mortality rate.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Abramson, J.
(1982). Regionalization of health services in Israel: Health indicators for measuring the health status of a region. Israel Journal of Medical Sciences, 18, 411-413.
2.
Anderson, D.
, Kohn, R., Gibson, T., Kalimo, E., Rabin, D., & Vukmanovic, C. (1976). Morbidity factors. In R. Kohn & K. White (Eds.), Health care: An international study. London: Oxford University Press.
3.
Barenthin, I.
(1975). The concept of health in community dentistry. Journal of Public Health Dentistry, 35, 177-184.
4.
Basch, P.
(1990). Textbook of international health. New York: Oxford University Press.
5.
Berg, R.
(1973). Weighted life expectancy as a health status index. Health Services Research, 8, 153-156.
6.
Bice, T.
(1976a). Comments on health indicators: Methodological perspectives. International Journal of Health Services, 6, 509-520.
7.
Bice T.
(1976b). Comments on health indicators: Methodological perspectives. In J. Elinson & A. Siegmann (Eds.), Socio-medical health indicators. Farmingdale, NY: Baywood.
8.
Bush, J.
, Chen, M., & Patrick, D. (1972). Social indicators for health based on functional status and prognosis. Proceedings of the American Statistical Association, 71-71.
9.
Carr-Hill, R.
(1989). Background material for the workshop on QALYs. Social Science and Medicine, 29, 469-477.
10.
Chen, M.
, & Bryant, B. (1975). The measurement of health: A critical and selective overview. International Journal of Epidemiology, 4, 257-264.
11.
Chen, M.
, & Bush, J. (1979). Health status measures, policy, and biomedical research. In S. Mushkin & D. Dunlop (Eds.), Health: Is it worth it? Measures of health benefits. New York: Pergamon.
12.
Chiang, C. L.
(1965). An index of health: Mathematical models. Washington, DC: Public Health Service Publications.
13.
Deliere, D.
(1983). Indicators of physical, mental and social wellbeing. World Health Statistics Quarterly, 36, 349-393.
14.
Development of indicators for monitoring progress towards health for all by the year 2000. (1981). Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization.
15.
Fanshel, S.
, & Bush, J. (1970). A health-status index and its application to health-services outcomes. Operations Research, 18, 1020-1066.
16.
Gross, B.
(1966). The state of the nation: Social systems accounting. In R. Bauer (Ed.), Social indicators. (1966). Cambridge: MIT Press.
17.
Gillion, C.
(1985). Measuring health care, 1960-1983: Expenditures, cost and performance. Paris: Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation.
18.
Ho, T.
(1982). Measuring health as a component of living standards. Washington, DC: World Bank.
19.
Hunt, S.
, & McKenna, S. (1986). Measuring health status. London: Croon Helm.
20.
Kaplan, R.
, & Anderson, J. (1988). A general health policy model: Update and applications. Health Services Research, 23, 203-235.
21.
Kramer, M.
, & Anthony, J. (1983). Review of differences in mental health indicators used in national publications: Recommendations for their standardization. World Health Statistics Quarterly, 36, 256-338.
22.
Kurian, G.
(1984). The new book of world rankings. New York: Facts on File.
23.
Larson, J. (1990). A scale for measuring international health status. Unpublished paper.
24.
Levy, E.
(1977). The search for health indicators. International Social Science Journal, 29, 435-435.
25.
Levy, E.
, 1986demographic yearbook. (1988). New York: United Nations.
26.
Pannenborg, C.
(1979). A new international health order: An inquiry into the international relations of world health and medical care. The Netherlands: Sijthoff & Noordhoff.
27.
Sanders, B. S.
(1964). Measuring community health levels. American Journal of Public Health, 54, 1063-1070.
28.
The second ten years of the World Health Organization, 1959-1967. (1968). Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization.
29.
Sullivan, D.
(1966). Conceptual problems in developing an index of health. Rockville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics.
30.
Sullivan, D.
(1971). A single index of mortality and morbidity. HSMHA Health Reports, 86, 347-354.
31.
Torrance, G.
(1976). Health status index models: A unified mathematical view. Management Science, 22, 990-1001.
32.
Ware, J.
, & Young, J. (1979). Issues in the conceptualization and measurement of value placed on health. In S. Mushkin & D. Dunlop (Eds.), Health: Is it worth it? Measures of health benefits. New York: Pergamon.
33.
Wolinsky, F.
, & Zusman, M. (1980). Toward comprehensive health status measures. Sociological Quarterly, 21, 607-621.
