Suchergebnisse

Current trends in health & health care that were identified in Social Indicators, 1976 (no publication information available) are discussed, including the recent &, in some cases, dramatic declines in mortality, increases in health expenditures, increases in health resources, & changes in health habits. These trends are compared with strikingly similar trends identified almost a half a century ago by The Research Committee on Social Trends established by President Hoover (H. H. Moore, 'Health and Medical Practice,' in Recent Social Trends in the United States: Report of the President's Research Committee on Social Trends, New York: McGraw Hill, 1933). Measures of disability & illness as indicators of health present problems concomitant with their use. Expanded services in a previously under-serviced area will show a rise in illness & disability, as those who previously had little or no access to health service can now avail themselves of it. Despite the improvement in health service in the area, statistics on increased illness proclaim the opposite. Conversely, measurement of the use of health service may indicate only the accessibility of such service, & not reflect the actual need for medical care, nor the health status of the area. Recent changes in illness & disability levels are difficult to identify. The effects of changes in social insurance programs & changes in accessibility are nearly impossible to distinguish from actual physiological changes in the population. Modified HA.

Current trends in health and health care that were identified in Social Indicators, 1976 are discussed, including the recent and, in some cases, dramatic declines in mortality, increases in health expenditures, increases in health resources, and changes in health habits. These trends are compared with strikingly similar trends identified almost a half a century ago by The Research Committee on Social Trends established by President Hoover. The significance of the current data and some of their possible causes and implications for the future are addressed, as well as some of the potential pitfalls in interpreting the data.