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Canadian Journal of Public Health = Revue Canadienne de Santé Publique logoLink to Canadian Journal of Public Health = Revue Canadienne de Santé Publique
. 2000 Nov 1;91(6):465–470. doi: 10.1007/BF03404831

Measuring Population Health: Correlates of the Health Utilities Index Among English and French Canadians

Jacek A Kopec 115,215,315,415,✉, J Ivan Williams 315,415, Teresa To 315,415,515, Peter C Austin 315,415
PMCID: PMC6979995  PMID: 11200741

Abstract

This study used cross-sectional data from the 1994/95 National Population Health Survey (NPHS) in Canada. The objective of the study was to examine the relationship between several established correlates of health status in the general population and the Health Utilities Index (HUI), a multidimensional, preference-based measure of health status. Analyses were carried out separately for the English-speaking (n=9,853) and French-speaking (n=1,519) respondents. The index correlated strongly with selfratings of health status and functional disability and varied as expected according to age, sex, and income. Subjects classified to different categories of chronic conditions reported different levels of health, as predicted. The HUI was also associated with the use of drugs and recent history of hospitalization. No major differences in the findings were observed between the two cultural groups. The results should be treated with caution due to the cross-sectional design and other methodological limitations of the study.

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