SELF-RATED HEALTH-STATUS AS A HEALTH MEASURE - THE PREDICTIVE VALUE OF SELF-REPORTED HEALTH-STATUS ON THE USE OF PHYSICIAN SERVICES AND ON MORTALITY IN THE WORKING-AGE POPULATION

The validity of various serf-reported health assessments in predicting physician contacts and all-cause mortality was investigated in a pros pective study in Finland. The follow-up periods were one year for the use of physician services and ten years ten months for the mortality. The study cohort comprised 1340 men and 1500 women, 35-63 years of age at the beginning of the study. The initial health assessments were de rived from postal questionnaires in 1980 (response rate 77.5%). The su rvey was repeated one year later to verify the stability of the respon dents' perceived health status. The data on the physician contacts and mortality were registered independently. The stability of perceived h ealth status was relatively good and the perceived health was inversel y associated with the number of physician contacts per year. A consist ent inverse association, standardized by age, sex and social status, w as observed between perceived health status and perceived physical fit ness and mortality, while the predictive value of self-reported chroni c diseases was low. The results suggest that the subjective health ass essments are valid health status indicators in middle-aged populations , and they can be used in cohort studies and population health monitor ing. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Inc.