[Development of research on self-rated health in the United States].
The development of research on self-rated health in the United States was reviewed to elucidate the background of the research. The earliest studies utilized medical and objective health data to assess self-rated health. A lack of convenient and exact health measurements in the gerontological research field motivated the development of these early studies. These studies indicated that self-rated health could not serve as a substitute for physicians' ratings. On the other hand, studies of the relationship between psychosocial indices and self-rated health demonstrated that self-rated health was valid as a single measure of overall health, being related to physical, mental and social aspects of well-being. Recent epidemiological investigations have shown that self-rated health is a significant predictor of mortality and changes in activities of daily living. Most of these research studies on self-rated health utilized elderly populations for subjects.
Sugisawa
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Dept. of Health Sociology, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology.
Sugisawa
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D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006302:Health Services Research; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012655:Self-Evaluation Programs; D014481:United States