Health status indicators: differentials by race and Hispanic origin.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention introduced a set of health status indicators in 1990 in response to a need for health status measures that present a broad overview of health and can be used by various levels of government (1). The indicators include 18 measures of health status and/or factors that put individuals at increased risk of disease or premature mortality. The development and definition of the indicators and the national data used to measure them are described in previous Statistical Notes (1,2). One of the three broad goals of Healthy People 2000 (3) is to reduce health disparities among Americans, including disparities between race and ethnic groups. In 1994, Committee 22.1, a group of health professionals who established the Health Status Indicators, recommended that, when possible, States and localities should analyze the indicators for each of the major population groups in their jurisdictions (4). Production of State and local reports by race and ethnicity is encouraged. The first part of this Statistical Note presents updates for previously published trends for the Health Status Indicators for the total population (2). The second part presents comparisons by race and Hispanic origin using the most recent national data. The final section provides a discussion of data issues relating to race and ethnicity.