STATCAST – Week of October 28, 2019

On October 30^th, NCHS released Health, United States, 2018 – the 42nd annual report on the health status of the nation. This report is submitted by the Secretary of Health and Human Services to the President and Congress in compliance with Section 308 of the Public Health Service Act.

For decades, the report’s focus has been to present an annual overview of national trends in key health areas. While that mission will continue, the way that people look for and use health statistics has changed drastically over time. NCHS staff are committed to making Health, US a better product for both policymakers and the public, and over the next year, the Center will analyze how Health US is currently used across the nation, and how the report might change to better meet users’ needs.

The 2018 edition of Health, US presents trends and current information in a 20-figure chartbook. The first section of the Chartbook focuses on health status and a broad range of measures, such as: life expectancy, infant mortality, leading causes of death, overdose deaths, teen births, preterm births, use of tobacco products, obesity, asthma, diabetes prevalence, hypertension, and functional limitations. The second section of the chartbook presents trends in health care utilization, including: childhood vaccination coverage, use of prescription drugs, and unmet medical needs. The third section focuses on health care resources such as: the availability of dentists and use of long-term care facilities. The fourth section describes trends in personal health care expenditures and health insurance coverage. And the Highlights section summarizes major findings from the Chartbook.

All of these data on health trends are crucial to the development, implementation, and evaluation of health policies and programs.