The measurable level of functioning of the individual at any given moment in time. Also applicable to groups of people.
The state of health of a specified individual, group or population (such as Ohioans, an HMO membership, or an employer’s employees). It is as difficult to describe or measure as the health of an individual and may be measured with people’s subjective assessment of their health, or with one or more indicators of mortality and morbidity in the population, such as longevity, maternal and infant mortality, and the incidence or prevalence of major diseases (communicable, coronary, malignant, nutritional, etc.). These are, of course, measures of disease status, but have to be used as proxies in the absence of measures of either objective or subjective health. Health status conceptually is the proper outcome measure for the effectiveness of the specific population’s medical care system, although attempts to relate variations in health status and the effects of available medical care have proved difficult and generally unsuccessful. It cannot be measured with measures of available health resources or services (such as physician to population ratios) which, in this context, would be process measures.
The state of health of an individual or population. A description of health status is usually given either in vague lay terms, for example, “good,” or as a health status index, which may appear more objective and meaningful than it really is.