State-Specific Healthy Life Expectancy at Age 65 Years - United States, 2007-2009

Healthy life expectancy (HLE) is a population health measure that combines mortality data with morbidity or health status data to estimate expected years of life in good health for persons at a given age. HLE accounts for quantity and quality of life and can be used to describe and monitor the health status of populations. HLE estimates for countries have been used for predicting future health service needs, evaluating health programs, and identifying trends and inequalities, but to date, few studies have reported HLE at the state level for the US. Here, the HLEs for persons aged 65 years, by sex and race, for each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia are determined. A CDC editorial note is presented.