3.1.

4a – Indicators used to measure and understand health status

Key knowledge:
- Indicators used to measure and understand health status: incidence, prevalence, morbidity, burden of
disease, disability-adjusted life year (DALY), life expectancy, health-adjusted life expectancy (HALE),
mortality (including maternal, infant and under 5) and self-assessed health status

Key Skill:
- Describe and apply indicators used to measure health status of Australians
-Use data to describe and evaluate the health status of Australians.

Resources
Page 26 of textbook onwards
Edrolo study notes attached to learning task

Important Definitions

Self – Assessed Health Status- An overall measure of a population’s health based on a person’s own
perceptions of their health. The survey includes the following information

The question around ‘self- assessed health status’ simple asks the participant to rate their overall
health on the following scale, poor, fair, good, very good, excellent.

Q1. How accurate do you feel this data would be?- do you think those who rate themselves as
excellent would actually live longer than those who rated it as very good?

This data would be very subjective as their data would be opiniated. Someone else could look at
their health and say they may have optimal health whereas the person assessing their own health is
poor.
Q2.

What happens to self-assessed health status as people age? use data to support your answer
(2marks)

People rating their health as poor increases as they age. 15% of 85 years and older have poor health
whereas 1% of 15-17s have poor health.

Eg, The percentage of people rating their health as poor increases as they age. Approximately 1% of
15-17 years olds rated their health as poor, increasing every age bracket with approximately 15% of
people 85 years and older rating their health as poor

Criteria

Chose a rating, fair, good, very good, excellent

State what happens to that rating over time-
increases/decreases
Choose a starting age bracket identify %
Choose a ending age bracket identify %
Ensure your data matches your claim, %
increase or decreases
MORE OBJECTIVE INDICATORS
Health status – the level of health experienced by an individual or a population at a particular time

Health indicator – A statistical measure used to provide information about a particular aspect of the
health status of a population. -Indicators relating to the level of death in a population -Indicators
relating to the level of ill-health in a population -Combined indicators
Fill in the following

INDICATOR Image to help Definition Should this indicator

remember value be a high or
low number for
optimal health?
Life Expectancy An indication of how long High
a person can expect to
live. It is the number of
years of life remaining to
a person at a particular
age.
Health Adjusted A measure based on life High
Life Expectancy expectancy at birth, but
including an adjustment
HALE for time spent in poor
health. It is the number of
years in full health that a
person can expect to live,
based on current rates of
ill health and mortality.
Mortality rate The number of deaths in Low
a population in a given
period.

Adult mortality The number of deaths LOW

rate between ages 15 and 60
in a given time period in a
given population

Maternal The death of a woman as Low

mortality rate a result of pregnancy,
childbirth or associated
treatment.
Infant mortality The death of an infant Low
rate before their first birthday.

Under five The death of children Low

mortality rate under 5 years of age.

Burden of disease A measure of 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
measure in a unit call
DALY
Disability - A measure of burden of
Adjusted Life disease, one DALY equals
Years (DALY) one year of healthy life
lost due to premature
death and time lived with
illness, disease or injury.

Incidence The number or

proportion of new cases
of a condition during a
given period of time
(often 12 months).

Prevalence The total or proportion of

cases of a particular
disease or condition
present in a population at
a given time.
Morbidity Refers to ill health in an
individual and the levels
of ill health in a
population or group.
Calculating DALYs (Burden of disease)

Q. If a person is dies from complications with type II diabetes at the age of 71 and has a life expectancy of 84

How many YLL? YLL = 13

They were diagnosed with type II diabetes at age 50,

How many YLD? 21

What is the total DALY’s ? 34 years

Exam Style Questions

Question (7 marks)

The following graph shows the rate of DALY (in thousands, per 100 000 people) over time.
DALY ('000s) per 100 000 people

'000s
31
29
27
25
23
21
19
17
15

Male Female
Source: Adapted from: https://vizhub.healthdata.org/gbd-compare/

a. Briefly explain what is meant by ‘DALY’. 1 mark

Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALY) is a measure of burden of disease. One DALY is one year of

healthy life lost due to premature death and time lived with illness, disease or injury.

b. Using data, outline the change in DALY over time for males compared to females. 2 marks

The DALY rate (per 100 000) began near 29 000 in 1990 to 20 000 in 2016 for males. During the
same period of time, it decreased from around 22 000 to 18 000 for females.

c. Explain how this change may act as a resource nationally. 4 marks

If DALY was to then that means that more people will be able to work. This means the economy can grow and
revenue can be used to provide essential resources and services such as education, infrastructure and social
security to those in need.
Consider this question for all measurable indicators.

a. Students should explain DALYs for one mark:

DALY is the unit of measurement for burden of disease where one DALY equals one year
of healthy life lost from premature death, illness, disease or disability.

b. Students should use data correctly and make reference to the change in DALY for both males and
females over time for two marks:

The rate of DALY (per 100 000) went from around 29 000 in 1990 to around 20 000 in 2016
for males. Over the same period of time, it decreased from around 22 000 to 18 000 for
females.
c. Students must make four points relating to how a decrease in DALY can act as a resource
nationally. Students can discuss fewer points in more detail, or more points in less detail. Answers
worth two marks include:

 A decrease in the rate of DALY means less money is being spent on health care to treat ill-
health. As a result, more money can be put towards resources such as preventative health,
education and infrastructure.
 A decrease in the rate of DALY means more people can work productively which increases
average incomes and the economy of the country.
 A decrease in the rate of DALY indicates a healthier community. This can mean there is less
premature death which reduces the amount of grief experienced in the community.

An answer worth four marks could be:

A decrease in the rate of DALY means that more people can work productively. This
increases the taxation collected by the government. This revenue can be used to provide
essential resources and services such as education, infrastructure and social security to those
in need. As a result, all people will experience a decent standard of living by being able to
access resources such as food, shelter and transport.