Subjective health status as a determinant of mortality among African-American elders.
This study examines the efficacy of self-rated health as a determinant of 6-year survival among the 1209 African-American respondents in the Longitudinal Study on Aging (LSOA). The association between self-rated health and mortality risk has been established previously; however, this relationship has not been directly tested in a nonwhite sample. Findings indicate that self-rated health is a predictor of mortality that is independent of several control variables (income, sex, age, education, and marital status) and two objective health status indicators (bed days and doctor visits). However, it is not independent of limitations with activities of daily living. When all three objective health measures were included in a single model, self-rated health was not an independent predictor of mortality. However, when the full model was specified on sex-specific subsamples, the analysis found that self-rated health was an independent predictor of mortality for women, but not for men.
Onawola
R S
RS
Department of Epidemiology, Hopkins Population Center, Johns Hopkins University, School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA.
LaVeist
T A
TA
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001510:Bed Rest / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D005544:Forecasting; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality; D009819:Office Visits / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D015996:Survival Rate; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology