[Health indexes and "sanimetry": conceptual aspects of recent research on the measurement of a population's state of health (author's transl)].
The major health indexes based on the classical concepts of mortality and morbidity are reviewed while emphasizing their limitations: underestimation of health problems socio-economic impact, inadequacy for the evaluation of certain main objectives of health care delivery systems, purely negative measurement of health. This paper investigates the recent attempts to improve these aspects: extension of the concept of morbidity by the introduction of disability measurements and the development of a "positive health" concept. Finally, a discussion is presented of the major health indexes whose development is based on the use of these concepts and the main conceptual, methodological problems they give rise to.
D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D005602:France; D006295:Health Resources; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D009017:Morbidity; D009026:Mortality; D011153:Population; D012046:Rehabilitation; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
Indicateurs de santé et "sanométrie": les aspects conceptuels des recherches récentes sur la mesure de l'état de santé d'une population.