Self-rated health and mortality: gender- and age-specific contributions of explanatory factors in South Korea

This study explored gender- and age-specific contributions of explanatory factors to the relationship between self-rated health (SRH) and all-cause mortality. We used mortality follow-up data from 1998 and 2001 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys of South Korea (n = 9,663). Explanatory factors included baseline health status, socioeconomic status, health behaviors, clinical risk factors, psychosocial factors, and family medical history. The ability of explanatory factors to explain the SRH-mortality relationship differed with age. For those aged 30-64, most excess hazards were explained by all explanatory factors. However, a large part of the mortality differentials by SRH remained unexplained among elderly samples. A wide range of health-related factors could explain the SRH-mortality association in younger population but not in older population. Factors to explain a large part of mortality differentials by SRH among older population should be identified.