Self-rated health and mortality in a Lithuanian and a Dutch population

A. Appels, H. Bosma, V. Grabauskas, A. Gostautas and F. Sturmans

Social Science & Medicine, 1996, vol. 42, issue 5, 681-689

Abstract: The hypothesis that the evaluation of one's health as poor is associated with mortality, independent of the results of a standardized medical examination, was tested in the Kaunas-Rotterdam Follow-Up Study. In this study two cohorts, one consisting of 2452 Lithuanian males and one of 3365 Dutch males, aged 45-60, were screened for cardiovascular risk factors in 1973, using identical protocols, and were followed for about ten years. Self-rated health was assessed by two direct questions: 'How would you assess your own health?' and 'What do you think of your own health compared to that of other men of your age?' as well as by a Semantic Differential Test of 'My Health'. In both cohorts a negative evaluation of one's health was associated with mortality, controlling for past or present heart disease, cardiovascular risk factors, parental life span, socio-economic and marital status. Especially the data with regard to the comparative question indicate that self-rated health is associated with mortality in men living in two different socio-cultural systems. The data suggest that a weak sense of mastery may explain the association between health perception and mortality.

Keywords: self-rated; health; mortality; coronary; heart; disease; negative; explanatory; style (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1996
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

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