Study objective-To assess the relation between self rated health and mortal
ity over a period of 23 years, taking into account medical history, cardiov
ascular risk factors, and education at the beginning of the follow up.
Design-A cohort of random population samples. The baseline studies included
a self administered questionnaire and a health examination. Mortality data
were collected from the national mortality register using personal identif
ication numbers.
Setting-The provinces of North Karelia and Kuopio in eastern Finland.
Participants-Random samples of working age people (n = 21 302) from the pop
ulation register.
Main results-For self rated health, the age adjusted poor to good relative
risk for all cause mortality was 2.36 (95% confidence intervals 2.10, 2.64)
for men and 1.90 (1.63, 2.22) for women, and for cardiovascular mortality
2.29 (1.96, 2.68) for men and 2.34 (1.84, 2.96) for women. Adjusted for sel
ected potentially fatal diseases from the subjects' medical histories, card
iovascular disease risk factors, and education, the corresponding relative
risks for all cause mortality were 1.66 (1.47, 1.88) for men and 1.50 (1.26
, 1.78) for women, and for cardiovascular mortality 1.54 (1.29, 1.82) for m
en and 1.63 (1.26, 2.10) for women. The association between self rated heal
th and mortality attributable to external causes was fairly strong.
Conclusions-Poor self rated health is a strong predictor of mortality, and
the association is only partly explained by medical history, cardiovascular
disease risk factors, and education.