Abstract
A great number and variety of terms are used to refer to health conditions. The principal terms are disease, illness, sickness, disorder, pathology, health condition, morbid condition, impairment, injury, disability, and handicap. Dependency, frailty, and the standard categories of self-perceived health (excellent, …, poor) also describe health conditions, but in more global terms. Health demographers and epidemiologists have given some of these terms formal definitions and we shall note the definitions that are available. Other terms are used more loosely and lack formal definition. The term morbidity has been used to refer both to health as a field of study and to specific health conditions. The terms health condition, pathology, morbid condition, and disorder are the other general terms among those enumerated but all can refer to a specific condition. They cannot be satisfactorily distinguished from one another.
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Notes
- 1.
Homeostasis is the ability of a cell, organ, or physiological system to maintain its internal equilibrium in a healthy state by adjusting its physiological processes in accordance with the changes in related physical structures. One might say, it is the balance achieved by the body through communication of the body’s parts to each other.
- 2.
Note that under steady-state conditions the prevalence ratio is directly proportional to the incidence rate and the average duration of the illness. A more precise formula for calculating the relation between the prevalence ratio, the incidence rate, and the average duration of illness than shown is:
$$\mbox{ Prevalence ratio} = \frac{\mbox{ incidence rate}\, {_\ast}\mbox{ average duration of illness}} {[1 + \mbox{ incidence rate}\, {_\ast}\mbox{ average duration of illness}]}$$If the incidence rate is low or if the disease has a high fatality rate, this formula will approximate formula (5.6a) (See Kleinbaum et al. 1982).
The relation between the prevalence ratio and the incidence rate, or prevalence cases and incidence cases, may be structured in other ways. By analogy, we may apply the conventional population estimating equation with appropriate modifications, as follows:
$${\mathrm{PR}}_{0} + \mathrm{I} -\mathrm{D} + \mathrm{Im} -\mathrm{Em} -\mathrm{R} ={ \mathrm{PR}}_{1}$$where the elements refer to prevalence of cases for a given disease at the start of a period (PRo), new cases during the period (I), deaths of persons who have the disease (D) during the period, immigrants with the condition (Im), emigrants with the condition (Em), recovering cases reduced by relapses (R), and prevalence of cases at the end of the period (PR1).
- 3.
Hyperplasia is the abnormal increase in the number of cells in a tissue or organ, causing its enlargement.
- 4.
Stenosis is the blockage of a blood vessel, typically an artery, with possible negative consequences in the form of angina (pain in chest), claudication (pain in calf or foot), heart attack, or stroke. Angioplasty is the procedure of catheterizing (coronary, peripheral, abdominal) arteries in order to reduce the degree of stenosis and improve the flow of blood though the arteries.
- 5.
See Chap. 7 for further explanation of logistic and Poisson regression.
- 6.
The latest version is: World Health Organization (1992, 1993, 1994).
- 7.
The SSA definition requires the impairment to be of a degree of severity that renders the individual unable to engage in any kind of substantial gainful work that exists anywhere in the national economy. If the determination of disability cannot be made on the basis of medical evidence only, consideration is given to the person’s age, education, and work experience.
- 8.
Ferrucci et al. (2005) believe that the intrinsic cause of frailty should be sought in common pathways for multiple impairments, such as hormonal changes, inflammation, disequilibrium between the production and scavenging of free radicals, and failures of the dynamic equilibrium between the complementary parts of the autonomic nervous system (i.e., the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems).
- 9.
Whitson et al. (2007), Bergman et al. (2007), and Rockwood et al. (2007) suggest other ways of composing a frailty index or defining freshly in their contributions to a special section of the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, Vol. 62A, No. 7, July, No. 7.
- 10.
Harmonization in this context refers to the adjustment of the data, definitions, and measures so as to achieve comparability and consistency between countries.
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Siegel, J.S. (2012). Measures of Health Status, Functioning, and Use of Health Services. In: The Demography and Epidemiology of Human Health and Aging. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1315-4_5
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