Subjective health status and health values in the general population.
OBJECTIVE
To explore the relationship between rating-scale evaluation of health-related quality of life ("health value") and two subjective evaluations of health: the SF-36 profile and the five-category perception of general health (excellent, very good, good, fair, and poor).


METHODS
This relationship was explored by linear and nonlinear regression analysis of data obtained through face-to-face interviews with a sample of 2,030 persons aged 45-75 years representing the Israeli Jewish urban population in that age group.


RESULTS
The main outcome is a mapping assigning health values to the subjective health-status scores, e.g., "good" general health is equivalent to a health value of 76-81, depending on the functional form of the relation. "Poor" health is equivalent to a value of 45-61. The R2 is about 0.3. While the eight scales of the SF-36 were found to be linearly related to health value (R2=0.51), the two summary measures-physical component scale (PCS) and mental component scale (MCS)-were not. The scales measuring general health, vitality, and physical functioning were the main determinants of health value, while the role-performance scales were insignificant. The PCS had a larger effect than the MCS.


CONCLUSIONS
These relationships provide deeper insight into the structure and meaning of the two health-status measures in the general population. They also place earlier determinations of these relationships among sick persons in a broader context and raise several further questions regarding the relationship between health values and health status.
Shmueli
A
A
Hebrew University and the Gertner Institute for Health Policy Research, Jerusalem, Israel. ashmueli@md2.huji.ac.il
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D007585:Jews / Q000523:psychology; D016014:Linear Models; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D012044:Regression Analysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012803:Sick Role; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D014504:Urban Health