THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN SELF-RATED HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE UTILIZATION IN RETIRED

THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN SELF-RATED HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE UTILIZATION IN RETIRED Objective: This article attests the association between self-rated health and health care utilization in a retired population by a narrative review. Method: A systematic review was carried out from 1967 to 2007 to identify studies on self-rated health, in the databases MEDLINE, LILACS e SCIELO. The OVID software was used to Medline research. Contacts with experts were used. The key words retirement, self-rated health, health care utilization and narrative review were used in Portuguese, Spanish and English versions. Al the abstracts were analyzed, but only trials that associated self-rated health in retirement and health care utilization were fully analyzed. Results: Thirty one out of 443 abstracts were selected to be fully analyzed. Current data indicates that health deterioration, poor self-rated health and increased health care utilization are associated with early retirement, due to disability, but not with individuals who worked until retirement by age. Conclusion: Retirement is probably associated with increased public expenses and increased health care utilization in retired with a poor self-rated health.