IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v362y2024ics0277953624008931.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Self-rated health predicts mortality -- but it depends on your age

Author

Listed:
  • Dore, Emily C.
  • Idler, Ellen

Abstract

While self-rated health (SRH) has long been known to predict mortality in adult populations, the age of respondents plays an interesting and complex role in both explaining and modifying the association. The objective of this study is to test for differences by age in the association of SRH with all-cause mortality. Because much of the research has been conducted with older samples, a wider age range of adults may show that some age groups have more predictive SRH than others. We estimated Cox proportional hazards models to determine if SRH in 1999 predicted survival to 2021 differently based on age, using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. The sample consisted of 5843 respondents aged 25 to 97 who were interviewed in 1999 and followed for survival until 2021. We included demographic and socioeconomic factors, physical health and mental health indicators, and health risk behaviors as covariates to assess their potential mediating role in the predictive ability of SRH. The results showed a significant interaction between SRH and age, with larger and more significant hazards for those aged 40–54 and 55–74. There were no significant effects at all for the youngest group and virtually none for the oldest group. For example, for individuals aged 40–54, there were significant HRs for poor health (2.49, 95% CI 1.05, 5.89) and fair health (1.95, 95% CI 1.11, 3.42) compared to excellent health in the fully adjusted models. Our findings suggest that age group differences in the predictiveness of SRH may reflect an absence of health knowledge and experience for younger respondents, and a survivor bias for the oldest age group due to the lifetime elimination of those with poor health.

Suggested Citation

  • Dore, Emily C. & Idler, Ellen, 2024. "Self-rated health predicts mortality -- but it depends on your age," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 362(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:362:y:2024:i:c:s0277953624008931
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117439
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953624008931
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117439?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. van Doorslaer, Eddy & Gerdtham, Ulf-G., 2003. "Does inequality in self-assessed health predict inequality in survival by income? Evidence from Swedish data," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 57(9), pages 1621-1629, November.
    2. Lazarevič, Patrick & Brandt, Martina, 2020. "Diverging ideas of health? Comparing the basis of health ratings across gender, age, and country," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 267(C).
    3. Mossey, J.M. & Shapiro, E., 1982. "Self-rated health: a predictor of mortality among the elderly," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 72(8), pages 800-808.
    4. Sprangers, Mirjam A. G. & Schwartz, Carolyn E., 1999. "Integrating response shift into health-related quality of life research: a theoretical model," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 48(11), pages 1507-1515, June.
    5. Young-Ho Khang & Hye Kim, 2010. "Self-rated health and mortality: gender- and age-specific contributions of explanatory factors in South Korea," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 55(4), pages 279-289, August.
    6. Helweg-Larsen, Marie & Kjøller, Mette & Thoning, Henrik, 2003. "Do age and social relations moderate the relationship between self-rated health and mortality among adult Danes?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 57(7), pages 1237-1247, October.
    7. Anna Zajacova & Hyeyoung Woo, 2016. "Examination of Age Variations in the Predictive Validity of Self-Rated Health," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 71(3), pages 551-557.
    8. Falconer, James & Quesnel-Vallée, Amélie, 2017. "Pathway from poor self-rated health to mortality: Explanatory power of disease diagnosis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 227-236.
    9. repec:plo:pone00:0084933 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Liliya Leopold, 2019. "Health Measurement and Health Inequality Over the Life Course: A Comparison of Self-rated Health, SF-12, and Grip Strength," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(2), pages 763-784, April.
    2. Christopher J. Holmes & Anna Zajacova, 2014. "Education as “the Great Equalizer”: Health Benefits for Black and White Adults," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 95(4), pages 1064-1085, December.
    3. García-Muñoz, Teresa & Neuman, Shoshana & Neuman, Tzahi, 2014. "Health Risk Factors among the Older European Populations: Personal and Country Effects," IZA Discussion Papers 8529, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Prus, Steven G., 2011. "Comparing social determinants of self-rated health across the United States and Canada," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 50-59, July.
    5. McFadden, E. & Luben, R. & Bingham, S. & Wareham, N. & Kinmonth, A.-L. & Khaw, K.-T., 2009. "Does the association between self-rated health and mortality vary by social class?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 275-280, January.
    6. Albertini, Julien & Fairise, Xavier & Terriau, Anthony, 2021. "Health, wealth, and informality over the life cycle," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    7. Mayu Fujii & Takashi Oshio & Satoshi Shimizutani, 2014. "Self-rated Health Status of Japanese and Europeans in Later Life: Evidence from JSTAR and SHARE," The Japanese Economic Review, Japanese Economic Association, vol. 65(4), pages 483-498, December.
    8. Ferreira-Batista, Natalia N. & Postali, Fernando Antonio Slaibe & Diaz, Maria Dolores Montoya & Teixeira, Adriano Dutra & Moreno-Serra, Rodrigo, 2022. "The Brazilian Family Health Strategy and adult health: Evidence from individual and local data for metropolitan areas," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 46(C).
    9. Lora, Eduardo, 2011. "Health Perceptions in Latin America," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 3957, Inter-American Development Bank.
    10. Natalia Nunes Ferreira-Batista & Maria Dolores Montoya Diaz, Adriano Dutra Teixeira, Fernando Antonio Slaibe Postali, Rodrigo Serra, 2019. "Impact of ESF coverage on general health at the individual level - Metropolitan areas," Working Papers, Department of Economics 2019_43, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP).
    11. Teresa García-Muñoz & Shoshana Neuman & Tzahi Neuman, 2014. "Subjective Health Status of the Older Population: Is It Related to Country-Specific Economic Development Measures?," Working Papers 2014-02, Bar-Ilan University, Department of Economics.
    12. Gross, Christiane & Schübel, Thomas & Hoffmann, Rasmus, 2015. "Picking up the pieces—Applying the DISEASE FILTER to health data," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(4), pages 549-557.
    13. Zajacova, Anna & Huzurbazar, Snehalata & Todd, Megan, 2017. "Gender and the structure of self-rated health across the adult life span," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 58-66.
    14. Nesson, Erik T. & Robinson, Joshua J., 2019. "On the measurement of health and its effect on the measurement of health inequality," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 207-221.
    15. Hongliang Wang & Yiwen Yu, 2016. "Increasing health inequality in China: An empirical study with ordinal data," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 14(1), pages 41-61, March.
    16. Svetlana Pashchenko & Ponpoje (Poe) Porapakkarm & Mariacristina De Nardi, 2017. "The Lifetime Costs of Bad Health," 2017 Meeting Papers 533, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    17. Quitterie Roquebert & Jonathan Sicsic & Thomas Rapp, 2021. "Health measures and long-term care use in the European frail population," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 22(3), pages 405-423, April.
    18. Joan Costa-Font & Cristina Vilaplana-Prieto, 2022. "Biased survival expectations and behaviours: Does domain specific information matter?," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 65(3), pages 285-317, December.
    19. Erica I Lubetkin & Di Long & Juanita A Haagsma & Mathieu F Janssen & Gouke J Bonsel, 2022. "Health inequities as measured by the EQ-5D-5L during COVID-19: Results from New York in healthy and diseased persons," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(7), pages 1-18, July.
    20. Shen, Ke & Zeng, Yi, 2014. "Direct and indirect effects of childhood conditions on survival and health among male and female elderly in China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 207-214.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:362:y:2024:i:c:s0277953624008931. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.