Functional health status

Proportion of the population by overall functional health, based on 8 dimensions of functioning (vision, hearing, speech, mobility, dexterity, feelings, cognition and pain).

Often reported as:

Very good or perfect functional health (score of 0.8 to 1.0 on the Health Utilities Index).

This indicator is derived from information collected in the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS).

The CCHS includes two measures of functional health in alternating two-year cycles: the Health Utilities Index Mark 3 (HUI3) and the Washington Group on Disability Statistics (WG) disability measure. The WG measure is used as an internationally comparable measure of disability, while the HUI3 provides a measure of health-related quality of life. The HUI3 is also measured in utility values—scores that describe people's preferences for different states of health—and is important for deriving standard economic, clinical and population health measures.

This measure uses the Health Utilities Index (HUI) which is a multi-attribute health status classification system originally developed at McMaster University for measuring generic health status and health-related quality of life. The HUI considers the responses to health questions that cover 8 dimensions of functioning (vision, hearing, speech, mobility, dexterity, feelings, cognition and pain).

The version of the HUI used by the CCHS has been adapted from the HUI Mark 3 (HUI3). The questions are slightly different than the original HUI3. This instrument allows the calculation of a generic health status index based on attributes found in two different CCHS modules: the Health utilities index (HUI) and Health utilities index - Pain and discomfort (HUP). More information can be found in the following article by Feeny et al. (2002): Multi-attribute and single-attribute utility functions for the Health Utilities Index Mark 3 system.

People reporting chronic conditions, activity restrictions, and fair/poor self-rated health (general and mental) were more likely to be in the moderate and severe disability categories.

• Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth (CHSCY)
• Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS)

For products related to functional health status, including data tables, data visualizations, articles, and other product types see Analytical releases: Functional health status or view all analytical releases.

More information on the Health Utilities Index (HUI) can be found in the following article by Horsman et al. (2003): The Health Utilities Index (HUI): concepts, measurement properties and applications

More information on the Washington Group (WG) measure of disability can be found here:

• Mapping the Washington Group on Disability Statistics Disability Measure to the Health Utilities Index Mark 3: Development and Testing of Qualitative and Predictive Multivariable Models in a General Population Sample (Analytical Studies: Methods and References, February 3, 2025)
• Using instrument mapping to fill data gaps in functional health (The Daily, February 2, 2025)