Community-based, cross-sectional study of self-reported health in post-recession Ireland: what has changed?

Background: Health has a complex relationship with economic conditions. Ireland's economic recession (2008-13) and sharp recovery (from 2014 onwards) offer a valuable opportunity to study self-reported health and its correlates in the context of rapid economic change. Aim: To assess the correlates of self-reported health in Dublin, Ireland after the economic recession of 2008-13. Design: Cross-sectional, face-to-face household survey using random cluster sampling. Methods: Self-reported health and its correlates were assessed in randomly selected households in Tallaght (a suburb of Dublin) and results were compared with a similar survey in 2014. Results: Five hundred and eighty-three eligible households were invited to participate and interviews were completed in 351 (response rate: 60.2%). The proportion of respondents rating their health as 'very good' or 'good' was 71.8%, essentially unchanged from four years earlier (70.8%). In 2018, better self-reported health was associated with less stress, holding private health insurance, not living with a person with a disability or chronic illness, and greater education; taken together, these factors explained 39.4% of variation in self-reported health. Unlike 2014, self-reported health in 2018 was no longer directly associated with employment status. Conclusions: Self-reported health has stabilized in Ireland since the end of the economic recession, but its correlates have shifted. Stress and carer burden are now among the strongest correlates of poor self-reported health in Ireland.