title: Do interviewer and physician health ratings predict mortality?: a comparison with self-rated health.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Despite the serious biases that characterize self-rated health, researchers rely heavily on these ratings to predict mortality. Using newly collected survey data, we examine whether simple ratings of participants' health provided by interviewers and physicians can markedly improve mortality prediction.
  
  
  METHODS
  We use data from a prospective cohort study based on a nationally representative sample of older adults in Taiwan. We estimate proportional-hazard models of all-cause mortality between the 2006 interview and 30 June 2011 (mean 4.7 years' follow-up).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Interviewer ratings were more strongly associated with mortality than physician or self-ratings, even after controlling for a wide range of covariates. Neither respondent nor physician ratings substantially improve mortality prediction in models that include interviewer ratings. The predictive power of interviewer ratings likely arises in part from interviewers' incorporation of information about the respondents' physical and mental health into their assessments.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings of this study support the routine inclusion of a simple question at the end of face-to-face interviews, comparable to self-rated health, asking interviewers to provide an assessment of respondents' overall health. The costs of such an undertaking are minimal and the potential gains substantial for demographic and health researchers. Future work should explore the strength of the link between interviewer ratings and mortality in other countries and in surveys that collect less detailed information on respondent health, functioning, and well-being.
authors.affiliation: From the Office of Population Research and Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ.
authors.forename: Megan A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Todd
authors.forename: Noreen
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Goldman
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D059026:Diagnostic Self Evaluation; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality / Q000639:trends*; D010820:Physicians; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology
references.citation: J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2011 Mar;66(2):237-48
references.pmid: 21098041
references.citation: J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2009 Jan;64(1):87-94
references.pmid: 19176485
references.citation: Med Care. 1994 Sep;32(9):930-42
references.pmid: 8090045
references.citation: Depress Anxiety. 2010 Mar;27(3):260-9
references.pmid: 20196101
references.citation: J Gerontol. 1993 Jan;48(1):S24-7
references.pmid: 8418152
references.citation: Soc Sci Med. 2003 Apr;56(8):1661-7
references.pmid: 12639583
references.citation: BMJ. 2009 Dec 10;339:b5262
references.pmid: 20008378
references.citation: J Gerontol. 1979 Sep;34(5):687-91
references.pmid: 572838
references.citation: Milbank Q. 2005;83(3):397-423
references.pmid: 16201998
references.citation: J Clin Epidemiol. 2003 Feb;56(2):148-54
references.pmid: 12654409
references.citation: Soc Sci Med. 2007 Sep;65(5):990-1003
references.pmid: 17574713
references.citation: J Aging Health. 2011 Mar;23(2):242-66
references.pmid: 21041293
references.citation: Ann Epidemiol. 2011 Nov;21(11):799-806
references.pmid: 21889359
references.citation: Popul Stud (Camb). 1982 Jul;36(2):317-26
references.pmid: 22077276
references.citation: J Clin Epidemiol. 2006 May;59(5):465-71
references.pmid: 16632134
references.citation: Res Nurs Health. 1982 Sep;5(3):137-46
references.pmid: 6923442
references.citation: Psychosom Med. 2012 Jul-Aug;74(6):560-6
references.pmid: 22753633
references.citation: Demography. 2006 Feb;43(1):165-83
references.pmid: 16579213
references.citation: J Health Hum Behav. 1963;4:179-83
references.pmid: 14066576
references.citation: Am J Epidemiol. 2002 Apr 15;155(8):755-9
references.pmid: 11943694
references.citation: J Gen Intern Med. 2006 Mar;21(3):267-75
references.pmid: 16336622