Health Equity Indicators

GRAAHI’s health indicators are grouped into three categories—health outcomes, health behaviors and social determinants of health.

Indicators were selected based on research and expert advice.

The definitions for the indicators are provided below.

The social determinants of health category is grouped into five areas—economic, health care, home, physical environment, and social environment.

Data Profile

Health Outcomes


Arthritis

Percentage of adults who have been told by their doctor that they have arthritis.

Asthma

Percentage of adults who have ever been told that they have asthma.

Breast Cancer Deaths

Rate of women per 100,000 who died of breast cancer.

Child Mortality

Rate of deaths among children under age 18 per 100,000.

Chlamydia

Rate of people per 100,000 who tested positive for chlamydia.

Colorectal Cancer

Rate of people per 100,000 who died from colon or rectum cancer.

Depression

Percentage of people who were ever told that they have any form of depression.

Diabetes

Percentage of people who ever been told by a doctor that they have diabetes.

Disability

Percentage of adults who are limited in any activities because of physical, mental or emotional problems.

Gonorrhea

Rate of people per 100,000 who tested positive for gonorrhea.

Heart Disease Deaths

Rate of people per 100,000 who died of heart disease.

High Blood Pressure

Percentage of adults who have ever been told by their doctor that they have high blood pressure.

High Cholesterol

Percentage of adults who have had their blood cholesterol checked, and were told by their doctor that it was high.

HIV

Rate of people per 100,000 who ever tested positive for HIV.

Infant Mortality

Rate of live births per 1,000 who died before they turned one year old.

Injury Mortality

Rate of people per 100,000 who died from intentional and unintentional injuries. Deaths included are those with an underlying cause of injury (ICD-10 codes *U01-*U03, V01-Y36, Y85-Y87, Y89).

Kidney and Renal Pelvis Mortality

Lead Poisoning in Children

Percentage of children 0-72 months old (or birth to 5yrs old) with a blood lead level > 5μg/dL.

Low Birthweight Babies

Percentage of live birth babies who weigh less than 2,500 grams (or 5.5 pounds).

Lung Cancer Deaths

Rate of people per 100,000 who died of lung cancer.

Obesity

Percentage of people who were classified as having a Body Mass Index between 30 and 99.8.

Opioid Overdose Mortality

Rate of deaths involving an opioid overdose per 100,000 people using underlying cause of death codes: X40-X44, X60-X64, X85, and Y10-Y14.

Overweight

Percentage of people who were classified as having a Body Mass Index between 25 and 29.9.

Poor Mental Health Days

Percentage of adults who reported their mental health was not good 14 or more days in the past 30 days.

Preventable Hospital Stays

Prostate Cancer Deaths

Rate of men per 100,000 who died of prostate cancer.

Stroke Deaths

Rate of people per 100,000 who died of a stroke.

Syphilis

Rate of people per 100,000 who tested positive for syphilis.

Teenage Births

Rate of births per 1,000 females aged 15-19.

Health Behaviors


Binge Drinking

Percentage of males having 5 or more drinks on one occasion, or females having 4 or more drinks on one occasion.

Breastfed Infants

Percentage of infants who were ever breastfed.

Dental Care

Percentage of adults who visited a dentist or dental clinic within the past year for any reason.

Excessive Drinking

Percentage of adults that report either binge drinking, defined as consuming more than 4 alcoholic beverages (for women) or 5 alcoholic beverages (for men) on a single occasion in the past 30 days, or heavy drinking, defined as drinking more than 1 drink (for women) or more than 2 drinks (for men) per day on average.

Fruit Consumption

Percentage of people who consumed fruit one or more times per day.

Heavy Drinking

Percentage of adult men having more than 14 drinks per week or adult women having more than 7 drinks per week.

Immunized Children

Percentage of children (from 19-36 months of age) who completed their recommended immunization series (4:3:1:3:3:1:4). Click on resources, web links, national, then scroll down to "immunized children" for more information about this immunization series.

Mammography Use

Percentage of women aged 40+ who have had a mammogram for breast cancer screening within the past two years.

Physical Activity

Percentage of people who participated in 150 minutes or more of aerobic physical activity per week.

Physical Inactivity

Percentage of adults (aged 20 and over) who reported no leisure-time physical activity.

PSA Test

Percentage of men aged 40+ who have had a PSA (prostate specific antigen) test for prostate cancer screening within the past two years.

Tobacco Use

Percentage of adults who are current smokers.

Vegetable Consumption

Percentage of people who consumed vegetables one or more times per day.

Social Determinants of Health


Access to Exercise Opportunities

Percentage of the population with adequate access to locations for physical activity. Adequate access is defined as individuals who: reside in a census block within a half mile of a park, or in urban areas: reside within one mile of a recreational facility, or in rural areas: reside within three miles of a recreational facility.

Access to Healthy Foods

Proportion of the population that is low income and lives close to a grocery store. Living close to a grocery store is defined differently in rural and nonrural areas; in rural areas, it means living less than 10 miles from a grocery store whereas in nonrural areas, it means less than 1 mile. Low income is defined as having an annual family income of less than or equal to 200 percent of the federal poverty threshold for the family size.

Air Pollution

The average daily measure of fine particulate matter in micrograms per cubic meter (PM2.5) in a county.

Child Abuse/Neglect

Rate of children (under 18) per 1,000 in a given fiscal year where alleged abuse or neglect is confirmed after an investigation.

Child in Single-Parent Households

Percentage of all children in family households that live in a household headed by a single parent (male or female head of household with no spouse present).

Children in Poverty

Percentage of children under age 18 living in poverty.

Civic Engagement

Percentage of eligible adults who voted in the 2016 Presidential election.

Cost Prevented Care

Estimated percentage of the population who could not see a doctor because of cost in the past year.

Health Care Coverage

Percentage of people who had any kind of health care coverage.

Homeownership

Percentage of adults who own their own home.

Income Level

Percentage of households that earn $50,000 or more per year.

No High School Diploma

Percentage of people with no high school diploma.

Poverty

Percentage of people living in poverty.

Severe Housing Problems

Percentage of households with at least 1 of 4 housing problems: overcrowding, high housing costs, lack of kitchen facilities, or lack of plumbing facilities.

Unemployment

Percentage of people who are currently unemployed.

Uninsured

Estimated percentage of people under age 65 who had no health insurance coverage.

Uninsured Children

Percentage of people under age 19 with no health insurance.

Survey