Letter to the Editor

America’s Health Ranking: An Example of Junk Science

Authors: Lee S. Friedman, PhD

Abstract

To the Editor:


The recent America’s Health Rankings (AHR) conducted by the American Public Health Association and Partnership for Prevention on behalf of the United Health Foundation represents just another attempt at creating global measures of health, which inevitably results in junk science. The AHR study ranks states in the US using an index score based on the combination of individual determinants of health. The resulting score provides a “comprehensive view of the health of a state.”1

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References

1. United Health Foundation. America’s Health Rankings: A Call to Action for People and Their Communities. 2006. Available at: http://www.unitedhealthfoundation.org/ahr2006/. Accessed on December 5, 2006.
 
2. United States Census Bureau. Current Population Survey, 2004 to 2006 Annual Social and Economic Supplements. Three-Year-Average Median Household Income by State: 2003–2005 Available at: http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/income05/statemhi3.html. Accessed on December 5, 2006.
 
3. United States Census Bureau. Poverty in the United States: Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States, 2004, Series P60-229. Available at: http://www.irp.wisc.edu/faqs/faq3/table2.htm. Accessed on December 5, 2006.