High Health Status

High Health Status in United States

United States

Self-reported health status is a measure of how individuals perceive their own health. It measures health-related quality of life not limited to specific health conditions or outcomes but is influenced by life experiences, the health of others in a person’s life, support from family and friends and other holistic factors affecting well-being.

Research shows that the risk of mortality for those with “poor” self-reported health status is double that of those with ”excellent” self-reported health status. The association between health status and mortality makes this measure a good predictor of future mortality rates.

Better self-reported health status is associated with higher educational attainment regardless of age, gender or race. An additional four years of education reduces the probability of reporting fair or poor health status by 6 percentage points. This is due, in part, to those with higher education suffering from fewer chronic conditions. They may also have better jobs, higher earnings; healthier working conditions and benefits; increased health literacy; and access to resources and opportunities such as healthier foods, regular exercise and health services and transportation.

Populations of adults with a higher percentage of high health status include:

• Men compared with women.
• Adults ages 18-44 compared with those ages 45 and older. 
• Asian and Hawaiian/Pacific Islander adults compared with Hispanic and American Indian/Alaska Native adults. 
• College graduates compared with those with lower educational attainment. The prevalence of high health status significantly increases with educational attainment.
• Adults with annual household incomes of $75,000 or more compared with those with lower income levels. The prevalence of high health status significantly increases with each increase in household income level.
• Adults living in metropolitan areas compared with those living in non-metropolitan areas.

Increasing educational attainment at the population-level may improve the population’s health status. The Community Preventive Services Task Force recommends implementing early childhood education programs as they improve educational outcomes associated with long-term health and have been shown to reduce educational achievement gaps and promote health equity, especially for children in low-income or racial and ethnic minority communities.

Various high school completion programs have been successful in improving high school graduation rates by targeting at-risk youth. These programs include vocational training, alternative schooling, social-emotional skills training, college-oriented programming, mentoring and counseling, attendance monitoring, community service opportunities and case management.

Health status is an overall health and well-being measure used by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to summarize and gauge progress toward achieving Healthy People 2030 objectives.

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