In the 1980s there was growing recognition of the limitations of epidemiologic data, particularly since the major indicators used to assess population health status were mortality indices (Brown, 1985). Rather than describing the health of the population, epidemiologic data focused on mortality data. Given the WHO'S definition of health as being more than the absence of disease, this has been a shortcoming. Billings and Cowley (1995) further point out that mortality data can be misleading. This is particularly true when rates are relatively low, because the rates say nothing about the state of the majority of the population who remain alive (Patrick, 1986). Morbidity data have also been criticized because it cannot be assumed that incidence rates equate with need for services (Stalker, 1993; Billings & Cowley, 1995).