In the United States, chronic health conditions are the leading cause of death and disability and are responsible for over 70% of annual health care costs. Nearly one in two adults lives with at least one chronic condition such as asthma, diabetes, or heart failure. The percentage of children with a chronic illness jumped from 1.8% in the 1960s to more than 7% in 2004.
To look specifically at California, this online data center provides an interactive view of the core data sets from the Chronic Conditions of Californians report, funded by the California HealthCare Foundation and presented by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. (The complete report PDFs are available below.) The data are drawn from CHIS and OSHPD sources (see the Methodology and the Appendix).
To view a particular data set, select from the menu below. Hospitalization rates are available for 2005 but not 2007.