The National Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with the Institute of Medicine, will appoint an ad hoc committee of experts to examine what is known about international differences among high-income countries in measures of health and disability over the life-cycle and what those finding imply for public health. The findings from this report could suggest new data collection, an agenda for further research, or the opportunity to design more effective public health strategies in the future. More specifically, the committee will:

1) Describe the sources, purpose, and limitations of international health comparisons;

2) Describe the nature and the strength of the evidence that exists to support the conclusion of a health disadvantage of the US population versus comparable industrialized nations;

3) Determine to what extent the reported health disadvantage in the US population holds true across various diseases and conditions;

4) Determine to what extent the reported health disadvantage in the US population holds true across various age ranges (infant, child, juvenile, adult, elderly). Can onset of the difference in health be traced to a single age group or does it develop over certain parts of the life-course?

5) Propose alternative explanations or potential causes of the reported health disadvantage, going beyond previously tested explanations. This would include an examination of individual risk factors (e.g. diet, exercise, smoking, drugs, and alcohol); societal risk factors (e.g., social organization of work and leisure, social and interpersonal relationships, and social networks); and other factors (e.g. access to health care) that may have a differential impact on health outcomes across countries;

6) If insufficient evidence (data) exist currently to test new hypothesis, indicate the nature and extent of data that would be required.