Using This Site

This Web site is designed to give both lay readers and technical experts additional information about the development of the 2007 Colorado Health Report Card as well as in-depth information for each of the 40 indicators. Users of this site can find information on the following:

• How each indicator was selected
• The data source used for each indicator
• Indicator ranking and grading
• Indicator precision, including confidence intervals and small differences
• Indicator changes from the 2006 Colorado Health Report Card
• The relationship of indicators to the federal Healthy People 2010 initiative

This site is broken into five life stages – Beginnings, Children, Adolescents, Adults and Older Adults. Within each life stage users will find in-depth information for each of the indicators that comprise that particular life stage. A definition of the indicator, a brief discussion of its significance and additional information on Colorado’s performance on the indicator is provided. Initiatives in Colorado and elsewhere that hold promise for improving population health related to the indicator are highlighted to show where and how progress is being made to improve in a particular area. Most of the indicator information includes a table and three graphs that illustrate Colorado’s performance on the indicator, including trends and disparities that exist between subgroups.

Indicator Table

• Colorado’s most recent value for the indicator and the year for which it is available;
• For some indicators, more recent Colorado data may be available but was not consistently available across the other states;
• The affected indicator fact sheets show actual rank and number of states reporting followed by the adjusted rank, for example, 5/19 = 13/50;
• The name and value for the top performing state; and,
• The Healthy People 2010 (HP2010) target value, where applicable.

Indicator Graphs

• Show values for all states ranked from best (left) to worst (right) with the column for Colorado indicated in red. States whose values are not significantly different from Colorado’s are shown in pink. Confidence intervals, which are used to determine statistically significant differences, are not available for all indicators.

• Show historical values for Colorado, typically beginning in 2000 or 2001. The values for most indicators have been relatively stable since 2000.

• Show current values for identified Colorado subpopulations. These are gender, ethnicity or income.

Sources for all of the information included about each indictor are identified in the endnotes of each page. The source Web sites provide additional information on each indicator.