Whether you answered yes or no, you probably can do some things that may increase your life expectancy and improve your quality of life. Even the U.S. Departments of Agriculture (USDA) and Health and Human Services (HHS) want to help you live a longer, healthier life. USDA and HHS have developed Steps to a HealthierUS - recommendations that may prevent or reduce the impact of chronic diseases through changes in diet, exercise, and unhealthy behaviors.
Dietary Guidelines for Americans is one part of the Steps to a HealthierUS initiative. Another important element is the Healthy People 2010 challenge, a comprehensive set of disease prevention and health promotion objectives for Americans. These objectives were set to reduce the most preventable threats to your health. The following tool has been designed to incorporate Healthy People 2010 objectives and major medical guidelines to assess what your risks may be and what you can do to maintain or improve your current health.
Before you get started on this questionnaire, you will need to gather some information about your health. You may need to contact your doctor's office for the following pieces of information:
Height
Weight
Total cholesterol number
HDL cholesterol number (also known as good cholesterol)
LDL cholesterol number (also known as bad cholesterol)
Systolic blood pressure number (This is the "top" number in a blood pressure
measurement. For example, if you have a blood pressure reading of "120 over 80" - written as 120/80
- the systolic blood pressure number is 120.)
A current list of diseases you have been diagnosed to have
This questionnaire contains approximately 40 items, and may take you approximately 15 minutes to complete. If you complete the entire questionnaire, however, you will receive a full health risk report at the end. The report will reflect your risk most accurately if you answer the questions as completely and honestly as possible. We encourage you to print this report and discuss it with your healthcare provider.
Statement of Confidentiality
As you complete this questionnaire, you will not be asked for any identifying information (such as your name or social security number). To maintain your privacy even further, your responses will not be stored for you to access at a later date, which means you must complete the entire assessment in one session.
Last Updated: April 2007 This content was created by members of the DrugDigest team of experts and is solely under DrugDigest's editorial control.
