Why Functioning Should Be Used as a Population Health Indicator? A Discussion of a Chilean Population Study

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Epidemiology
• Health Indicators

Background:

• Population health assessment traditionally relies on mortality and morbidity.
• Functioning is emerging as a crucial third health indicator.
• Understanding population health requires a comprehensive view beyond disease-specific data.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the functioning profile of the Chilean population with regional morbidity and mortality rates.
• To investigate the relationship between functioning and disease burden.
• To evaluate functioning as a distinct health indicator.

Main Methods:

• Ecological study utilizing secondary data from the II National Disability Survey (ENDISC) and health statistics.
• Spearman's correlation was employed to analyze the relationship between functioning and disease indicators.
• Data collected in 2015 provided a snapshot of disability and health outcomes.

Main Results:

• No significant linear relationship was found between functioning (performance/disability) and regional morbidity or mortality rates (p > 0.05).
• Correlation coefficients were not relevant or statistically significant.
• This indicates a disconnect between how populations function and their disease burden at a regional level.

Conclusions:

• Functioning, as measured by performance, is not directly correlated with morbidity or mortality in the Chilean population.
• Solely relying on traditional health indicators like morbidity and mortality is insufficient to capture population health complexity.
• Functioning serves as a valuable, complementary health indicator distinct from, rather than a proxy for, morbidity or mortality.