Longitudinal study of associations between perceived health status and self reported diseases in the French Gazel cohort.
OBJECTIVE
Although perceived health status is an indicator widely used in epidemiological studies, its relation to various diseases is not well known. The objective of this study is to examine these relations in detail.


METHODS
Marginal models used for a longitudinal study of the association between three health scales and 47 diseases among 12 164 men and 44 diseases among 4415 women.


METHODS
French Gazel cohort during the period from 1991 to 1996.


RESULTS
The general health status scale was significantly associated with 43 diseases among men, and 31 among women. Some of these significantly associated diseases were physical (for example, cancer and cerebrovascular accident) and others, psychological (for example, depression). The mental fatigue scale was more specifically associated with psychological disorders, including sleep problems, depression, and nervous diseases. Moreover, modifications in subjects' assessment of their health from one year to the next were generally associated with modifications in reported diseases.


CONCLUSIONS
Although the mechanism that relates the presence of a disease to perceived health status remains in question, these results show clearly that there is a close association between these two domains that justifies the use of perceived health as a proxy for self reported diseases.
INSERM U88, HNSM, Saint-Maurice, France. p.goldberg@st-maurice.inserm.fr
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P
Goldberg
A
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Guéguen
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Schmaus
J P
JP
Nakache
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M
Goldberg
D000328:Adult; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005221:Fatigue / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D006304:Health Status; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D005222:Mental Fatigue / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires