The Role of Unhealthy Behaviors on an Individual's Self-Reported Perceived Health Status

Many health plans and employers gather information about their enrollees in the form of self-reported surveys. This information is useful in assessing the risk pool of the population, targeting disease or case management programs to affected personnel, and developing/assessing wellness/incentive programs to lower medical costs and improve quality of life. The purpose of our study is to explore the role of individual-level unhealthy behaviors in influencing self-reported perceived health status. We extend prior research to estimate the effects of unhealthy behaviors on subsequent perceived health status using longitudinal data for the noninstitutional civilian adult population in the United States. We link data from two sources, the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and the longitudinal form of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS). Both the NHIS and MEPS data were collected using a complex survey design, enabling our results to be representative of the U.S. noninstitutionalized civilian population. We find that an increase in the number of unhealthy behaviors reduces the likelihood of individuals perceiving their health status as Excellent. In contrast, the likelihood of individuals perceiving their health status as Poor increases as the number of unhealthy behaviors increases, with a more pronounced effect for individuals with medically diagnosed conditions or perceived functional limitations.