Health outcomes are defined as?

• A. Disease, injury or death
• B. Only chronic diseases
• C. Mortality rate
• D. Health service utilization

Answer: (D)

Outcomes in epidemiology are the end results that reflect how a condition or its treatment affects a person’s health. They can be clinical events, such as death or disease occurrence, as well as changes in health status, functioning, quality of life, and even how much health care is used.

Among the options, health service utilization fits best as a health outcome in many public health contexts because it directly measures the end result of health conditions on the health system and patient care. It captures the actual use of services like doctor visits, hospitalizations, and procedures, which researchers track to understand burden, access, and effectiveness of care. The other choices describe health states or specific metrics (like mortality) rather than the broader outcome as a result of health conditions or interventions.