The correlation structure of variables in the Public Health field were studied in order to obtain a "Health Status Index" for the "counties'' (municípios) of Rio Grande do Sul State. By using the value of this index for each one of the counties it was possible to built up 18 homogeneous groups (Clusters) which were ordered in the reverse magnitude of their health status index. Additional indices were found: "Imunization Index" and "Non-Medical-Hospital Care Index". The variable proporcional mortality for the under 5 year-olds, was the one that showed itself to be the most sensive diagnostic discriminator among the series of variables that were studied, and the birth weight of less than 2,700g the least sensitive.
Health Status Index; Counties of Rio Grande do Sul; Multivariate analysis
