Longitudinal study of associations between perceived health status and self reported diseases in the French Gazel cohort

Study objective-Although perceived health status is an indicator widely use d in epidemiological studies, its relation to various diseases is not well known. The objective of this study is to examine these relations in detail. Design-Marginal models used for a longitudinal study of the association bet ween three health scales and 47 diseases among 12 164 men and 44 diseases a mong 4415 women. Setting-French Gazel cohort during the period from 1991 to 1996. Main results-The general health status scale was significantly associated w ith 43 diseases among men, and 31 among women. Some of these significantly associated diseases were physical (for example, cancer and cerebrovascular accident) and others, psychological (for example, depression). The mental f atigue scale was more specifically associated with psychological disorders, including sleep problems, depression, and nervous diseases. Moreover, modi fications in subjects' assessment of their health from one year to the next were generally associated with modifications in reported diseases. Conclusion-Although the mechanism that relates the presence of a disease to perceived health status remains in question, these results show clearly th at there is a close association between these two domains that justifies th e use of perceived health as a proxy for self reported diseases.