Description:
The Health Status (HE) section of the MEPS survey assesses the physical and mental health status for both children and adults. Specific areas assessed include the loss of adult teeth, limitations in activities of daily living (ADLs) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), the use of health aids, physical limitations, activity limitations, mental impairments, vision impairments, and hearing difficulties. For children, this section obtains additional information on childhood immunizations, limitations to school attendance, participation in special education or therapy services, general health status, height, and weight. Questions related to whether any household members have lost their teeth were omitted beginning in Panel 3 Round 1. Questions related to child care were added in 1999 (Panel 3 Round 3 and Panel 4 Round 1). "Perceived" health status is how one thinks of one's own health relative to the health of people in one's age group.
Analytic tools:
You can use the MEPSnet/HC query tool to generate your own tables for health status. Select the HEALTH or MNHLTH variables from the Health Status variable category.
Publications: Publications are listed in reverse chronological order (most recent first).