Leading health indicators are high-priority objectives chosen to drive action toward improving health and well-being. Which of the following are examples?

• A. Drug overdose deaths and exposure to unhealthy air.
• B. Hospital readmission rates.
• C. Medical staffing ratios.
• D. Patient satisfaction scores.

Answer: (A)

Leading health indicators focus on big public health outcomes and the factors that drive health at the population level, guiding action and tracking progress over time. Drug overdose deaths and exposure to unhealthy air fit this idea because they are concrete, population-wide health outcomes and environmental determinants that public health efforts can target—through overdose prevention, treatment access, and air-quality regulations. These indicators reflect areas where policy and community interventions can make a measurable difference and are typically monitored with national data to show trends and progress.

In contrast, hospital readmission rates, medical staffing ratios, and patient satisfaction scores are more about health system performance, workforce capacity, and patient experience. They indicate how care is delivered rather than the broad health status of a population or its environmental and behavioral determinants, so they aren’t classified as leading health indicators in the public health sense.