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United States Value:
Percentage of women ages 18-44 who reported that their health is very good or excellent
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Percentage of women ages 18-44 who reported that their health is very good or excellent
Percentage of women ages 18-44 who reported that their health is very good or excellent
Percentage of women ages 18-44 who reported that their health is very good or excellent
CDC, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System
Percentage of women ages 18-44 who reported that their health is very good or excellent
CDC, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System
US Value: 57.4%
Top State(s): New Jersey: 66.7%
Bottom State(s): West Virginia: 50.4%
Definition: Percentage of women ages 18-44 who reported that their health is very good or excellent
Data Source and Years: CDC, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2019-2020
Suggested Citation: America's Health Rankings analysis of CDC, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, United Health Foundation, AmericasHealthRankings.org, accessed 2023.
Self-reported health status is a measure of how individuals perceive their own health. Health status is an overall health and well-being measure used by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to summarize and gauge progress toward achieving Healthy People 2030 objectives. It is a measure of health-related quality of life and is not limited to specific health conditions or outcomes, but instead 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 those with “poor” self-reported health status have mortality risk 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.
The prevalence of women ages 18-44 who report “very good” or “excellent“ health is higher among:
More years of schooling are associated with better self-reported health status. This may be due in part to the fact that those with higher education have fewer chronic conditions. Economic resources and jobs with healthier working conditions and benefits are also associated with better health status.
The Community Preventive Services Task Force recommends implementing high-quality center-based early childhood education programs in order to improve health. These programs improve health, promote health equity and are associated with narrower educational achievement gaps, especially for children in low-income or racial and ethnic minority communities.
Borgonovi, Francesca, and Artur Pokropek. 2016. “Education and Self-Reported Health: Evidence from 23 Countries on the Role of Years of Schooling, Cognitive Skills and Social Capital.” Edited by Joshua L. Rosenbloom. PLOS ONE 11 (2): e0149716. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0149716.
Cialani, Catia, and Reza Mortazavi. 2020. “The Effect of Objective Income and Perceived Economic Resources on Self-Rated Health.” International Journal for Equity in Health 19 (1): 196. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-020-01304-2.
Cutler, David, and Adriana Lleras-Muney. 2007. “Education and Health.” Policy Brief #9 9. Ann Arbor, MI: National Poverty Center, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at University of Michigan. http://www.npc.umich.edu/publications/policy_briefs/brief9/.
DeSalvo, Karen B., Nicole Bloser, Kristi Reynolds, Jiang He, and Paul Muntner. 2006. “Mortality Prediction with a Single General Self-Rated Health Question.” Journal of General Internal Medicine 21 (3): 267. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1525-1497.2005.00291.x.
Lorem, Geir, Sarah Cook, David A. Leon, Nina Emaus, and Henrik Schirmer. 2020. “Self-Reported Health as a Predictor of Mortality: A Cohort Study of Its Relation to Other Health Measurements and Observation Time.” Scientific Reports 10 (December): 4886. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-61603-0.
Lundborg, Petter. 2012. “The Health Returns to Schooling—What Can We Learn from Twins?” Journal of Population Economics 26 (2): 673–701. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-012-0429-5.
Quesnel–Vallée, Amélie. 2007. “Self-Rated Health: Caught in the Crossfire of the Quest for ‘True’ Health?” International Journal of Epidemiology 36 (6): 1161–64. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dym236.
Ramon, Ismaila, Sajal K. Chattopadhyay, W. Steven Barnett, Robert A. Hahn, and The Community Preventive Services Task Force. 2018. “Early Childhood Education to Promote Health Equity: A Community Guide Economic Review.” Journal of Public Health Management and Practice 24 (1). https://doi.org/10.1097/PHH.0000000000000557.
America’s Health Rankings builds on the work of the United Health Foundation to draw attention to public health and better understand the health of various populations. Our platform provides relevant information that policymakers, public health officials, advocates and leaders can use to effect change in their communities.
We have developed detailed analyses on the health of key populations in the country, including women and children, seniors and those who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces, in addition to a deep dive into health disparities across the country.