title: Self-rated health, subjective social status, and middle-aged mortality in a changing society.
abstract: In this study, the authors examined the relationships between self-rated health and subjective and objective socioeconomic status (as measured by income and education) in relation to middle-aged mortality differences in men and women across 20 counties in Hungary through a cross-sectional, ecological study. The authors interviewed 12,643 people in a Hungarostudy 2002 survey, profiling the Hungarian population according to gender, age, and county. They found that mean self-rated health and self-rated disability at the county level were significantly associated with middle-aged mortality differences among counties, with male mortality more closely associated with self-rated health. The authors also noted that self-rated health and socioeconomic status of the opposite gender were significantly associated with middle-aged mortality, but the strength of the association differed by gender. Finally, male middle-aged mortality was more strongly connected to female subjective and objective social status than female mortality was connected with male social status.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Behavioural Sciences, Semmelweis University of Medicine, Budapest, Hungary. kopmar@net.sote.hu
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kopp
authors.forename: Arpád
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Skrabski
authors.forename: János
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Réthelyi
authors.forename: Ichiro
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kawachi
authors.forename: Nancy E
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Adler
mesh_terms: D001294:Attitude to Health; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D006814:Hungary; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality / Q000639:trends*; D012494:Sampling Studies; D012737:Sex Factors; D012923:Social Class