This paper compares reported health status for Brazilians and Americans, further disaggregated by age groups, sex and race. It also deals with reported morbidity for some selected conditions, namely: arthritis and rheumatism, diabetes, bronchitis and asthma, high blood pressure (hypertension) and heart conditions. Data referring to the Brazilian population comes from a special health questionnaire from PNAD/1998, a household survey conducted annually by IBGE. American data comes from NHIS/1996, also a household survey, but conducted by the Bureau of the Census for the National Center for Health Statistics. Generally speaking, with respect the reported health status, women declare themselves in worse condition and Americans declare themselves better off. Regarding morbidity, there is no overall pattern and differences found among race or sex in a given country is not reproduced in the other.
Health condition; Self-reported morbidity; Racial/gender differentials in self-reported morbidity; Comparison of USA/Brazil health conditions
