Taking America's Pulse

Survey offers data about health status, health-care access and quality

TUESDAY, Aug. 27, 2002 (HealthDayNews) -- A new national survey shows that 23 percent of Americans aged 18 and older report they have high blood pressure, 10.3 percent report they have heart disease, 9.1 percent have asthma and 6.2 percent have diabetes.

The information is from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's Medical Expenditure Panel Survey in 2000.

The annual survey gathers information on health-care use, quality access and the population's health status.

Here are some other findings from the 2000 survey:

  • About 43 percent of Americans aged 18 and older who have public health insurance reported they have high blood pressure. That figure was 21.5 percent of people with private insurance and 13.2 percent of people with no health insurance.
  • Hispanics aged 18 and older were less likely than blacks, whites or any other groups of people to report they have heart disease, high blood pressure or asthma.
  • Blacks and Hispanics were more likely than other people to report having diabetes.
  • People aged 18-64 who have diabetes and no health insurance were less likely than people with private health insurance to report having a Hemoglobin A1C test, or to have their feet checked for sores or irritations.
  • People with heart disease aged 65 and older were more likely (98.6 percent) than people with heart disease aged 18-64 (92.9 percent) to report they had their blood pressure checked in the last year. Those over 65 with heart disease were also more likely (89.2 percent) than people aged 18-64 with heart disease (75.3 percent) to have had a routine checkup in the past year.
  • Among people aged 18 and older who had a stroke, 58.7 percent said they'd been advised by a health-care provider to exercise more, and 59.1 percent said they'd been told to change their diet.

More Information

Here's an overview on the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey.

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