HEALTH STATUS

The health status of young children was evaluated in two ways: a) using a global measure of parents’ rating of their child’s health and b) using a series of questions about functional health status to identify children with a special health care need. Young children in Iowa were in generally good health, with over 90% of children reported as having excellent (62%) or very good (31%) overall health status. There was a statistically significant difference by income level in the reported health of Iowa’s youngest children. In Iowa’s age 0-5 population, the lowest income group (up to 133% of the FPL) were reported as the most healthy with 96% reported to be in excellent or very good health. Ninety-three percent of the higher income children (200+% FPL) were reported to have excellent or very good health, along with 90% of young children in the 134-200% FPL group.

About 14% of Iowa’s youngest children were defined as having a special health care need (CSHCN) using the nationally recognized Children and Adolescent Health Measurement Inventory (CAHMI) CSHCN screening tool.(2) The CAHMI is a series of five questions that categorizes children as having a special health care need as part of a survey instrument. Younger children (age 0-5) were significantly less likely to be defined as having a special health care need than older children in Iowa (21% for all Iowa children). The proportion of young children categorized as having a special health care need was not statistically significantly different by income or age of the child. _________________________________________________

(2) Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative (CAHMI). Children with Special Health Care
Needs Screening Instrument. Available at: http://dch.ohsuhealth.com//index.cfm?cfid=6&cftoken
=59572841&pageid=458&sectionID=133