CAN POOR SELF-RATED HEALTH PREDICT CORONARY HEART DISEASE (CHD) AND MORTALITY IN THE ELDERLY PEOPLE?

Introduction: Self-rated health (SRH) has been widely used as a measure of health status. The objective of this study was to determine the predictive ability of poor self-rated health on coronary heart disease and all-cause mortality in the elderly people. Materials and Method: In this prospective study, 1382 participants (a 95% response rate) aged 65-74 years, with no CHD, were followed for two years. Dependent variables were the development of CHD events and all-cause mortality during the follow-up period. SRH was measured using the following question: 'How would you rate your general health status?' and grouped into two categories: good or poor. Results: Only 38.6% of the participants rated their health as good. During the follow-up period, 2.1% of the men and 0.9% of the women died; 4.7% of the men and 3.3% of the women developed CHD events. After adjusting for age, gender, economic status and Framingham Risk Score, participants with "poor" self-rated health had a 2.1-fold (95% CI=1.08-3.98) higher CHD risk compared with persons with "good" self-rated health. After adjusting (age/gender), participants with "poor" self-rated health had a 4.4-fold higher (95% CI=1.24-15.54) mortality risk. Conclusion: Poor SRH predicts CHD events and mortality. SRH should be assessed routinely in the elderly.