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The risk profile presented on the following page summarizes how American Indians as a group compared in 2013 to the state average on 69
measures of health status.
The 69 indicators used in the profile are individual measures of the various dimensions or facets of health status.
The
profile uses
the percentages a racial/ethnic group is above or below the statewide average
on each of the specific measures. In order to represent
the level of each indicator for American Indians in comparison to
the overall state level, the following formula was used
:*
T
HE VALUE OF A RATE OR RATIO IN A SPECIFIED GROUP
- 1.0
X
100
T
HE AVERAGE VALUE OF A RATE OR RATIO FOR ALL GROUPS
The above formula produces a score of 0.0 for a group with the same value as the statewide average. A negative value indicates better than
average standing on an indicator. A positive value indicates worse than average standing on an indicator*.
The profile visually describes the better-
than-average and worse-than-average clusters of health status characteristics for American Indian residents of Arizona.
Following the graphic profile is a detailed description of the 69 indicators. These indicators are
organized around 9 major subject areas:
(1) Teen Pregnancies, (2) Maternal Lifestyle and Health Characteristics, (3) Utilization of Prenatal Care Services, (4) Newborn's Health, (5) Mortality
from Natural Causes (chronic or infectious diseases), (6) Mortality from Injuries, (7) Age-Specific Mortality, (8) Premature Mortality and (9)
Reportable Diseases.
I
N
2013, A
MERICAN
I
NDIAN RESIDENTS OF
A
RIZONA
:
ranked worse than the statewide average on 49 of 69 health indicators;
had high mortality from alcohol-induced causes, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, assault, nephritis, diabetes, motor vehicle
accidents, influenza and pneumonia, septicemia, and mortality from unintentional injuries: all contributing to the premature
death rate of 78.7 percent.
ranked poorly on measures of maternal lifestyle and health, as well as in utilization of prenatal care;
on average were 17 years younger at time of death compared to all racial/ethnic groups;
ranked better than average on a number of health indicators including (1) mortality rates for several chronic diseases (lung
cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, chronic lower respiratory diseases, breast cancer, all malignant neoplasms, colorectal cancer,
and heart disease), (2) tobacco use during pregnancy, (3) drug induced deaths, and (4) injury by firearms.
* The comparative risk profiles for American Indian, White non-Hispanic, Hispanic or Latino, Black or African American, and Asian or Pacific Islander residents of Arizona were developed for a
report “
Differences in the Health Status Among Racial/Ethnic Groups
”. This publication is available online at
http://www.azdhs.gov/plan/report/dhsag/index.htm .For consistency, the signs + and – for scores indicating the median age at death as higher or lower than the statewide average were reversed (indicators 8-1, 8-2, 8-3). Otherwise, a lower-
than-average median age at death would signify a better than average standing on this indicators. A lower-than-average median age at death obviously reflects a worse off life expectancy.
Health Status Profile of American Indians in Arizona, 2013 Data Book
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