Self-rated health. Comparisons between three different measures. Results from a population study
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Self-rating of health is among the most frequently assessed health perceptions in epidemiological research. The aim of this study was to compare different measures of global self-rated health (SRH) with respect to differences in age and sex groups and relations to hypothesized determinants. METHOD: Three single-question measures of SRH were included in a health questionnaire administered to 8200 randomly chosen men and women. Two SRH measures were non-comparative, one with seven (SRH-7) and one with five response options (SRH-5), while the third measure included a comparison with others of the same age (SRH-age). SRH-7 had specified response options only at the ends of the scale, while the other two measures gave specified statements for each option. Comparisons between the SRH assessments were studied with respect to response frequencies, frequency distributions, age and gender differences and differences in associations with hypothesized determinants. RESULTS: The differences between the SRH measures were in most cases marginal. Some diversities may, however, be worth considering: a high drop-out rate for the SRH-7 measure in the oldest age group; a trend that SRH-7 correlated most strongly with the independent variables; SRH-age showed improved health ratings with increasing age but a less skewed frequency distribution compared to the non-comparative measures. CONCLUSIONS: The results imply that non-comparative measures are more appropriate in longitudinal studies and that measures without specified response options might be less suitable for an older study group. The overall impression is, however, that the different measures represents parallel assessments of subjective health.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Self-perceived health is a strong predictor of morbidity and is used in most health surveys, COVID-19 studies, and previous pandemic studies.
“Self-perceived health was collected through an item of 5 possible responses ranging from very bad to very good, which is known to be a great predictor of morbidity (Eriksson et al., 2001) and is included in most health surveys, in studies on COVID-19 (Wang et al., 2020), and on previous pandemics (Main et al., 2011)”
From Health-related factors of psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic among non-health workers in Spain (2021) · cites this paper as Eriksson et al., 2001
The perception of health, evaluated with a question with five answer options, is a good predictor of morbidity.
“It is known that the perception of health, evaluated in the study with a question with five answer options, is a good predictor of morbidity (Eriksson et al., 2001).”
From Health-related factors of psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic among non-health workers in Spain (2021) · cites this paper as Eriksson et al., 2001
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Self-rated health: a predictor of mortality among the elderly.
Mossey, J. M., & Shapiro, E. (1982) · American Journal of Public Health · doi:10.2105/ajph.72.8.800 · Cited by 2,145 · see citing works
PERCEIVED HEALTH AND MORTALITY: A NINE-YEAR FOLLOW-UP OF THE HUMAN POPULATION LABORATORY COHORT1
Kaplan, G. A., & Camacho, T. C. (1983) · American Journal of Epidemiology · doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a113541 · Cited by 1,078 · see citing works
Health Perceptions and Survival: Do Global Evaluations of Health Status Really Predict Mortality?
Idler, E. L., & Kasl, S. V. (1991) · Journal of Gerontology · doi:10.1093/geronj/46.2.s55 · Cited by 990 · see citing works
Self-rated health and mortality in the NHANES I Epidemiologic Follow-up Study
Idler, E. L., & Angel, R. J. (1990) · American Journal of Public Health · doi:10.2105/ajph.80.4.446 · Cited by 864 · see citing works
Muscle Metabolism During Exercise
Pernow, B., & Saltin, B. (1971) · Advances in experimental medicine and biology · doi:10.1007/978-1-4613-4609-8 · Cited by 403 · see citing works
Development of a social support instrument for use in population surveys
Undén, A., & Orth‐Gomér, K. (1989) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/0277-9536(89)90240-2 · Cited by 318 · see citing works
Self-citationSelf-rated health and mortality in a Lithuanian and a Dutch population
Appels, A., Bosma, H., Grabauskas, V. J., Goštautas, A., & STURMANS, F. (1996) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/0277-9536(95)00195-6 · Cited by 234 · see citing works
Power, C., Matthews, S., & Manor, O. (1996) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.313.7055.449 · Cited by 203 · see citing works
Tibblin, G., Tibblin, B., Peciva, S., Kullman, S., & Svärdsudd, K. (1990) · PubMed · Cited by 164 · see citing works
Determinants and dimensions involved in self-evaluation of health
Fýlkesnes, K., & Førde, O. H. (1992) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/0277-9536(92)90023-j · Cited by 162 · see citing works
Determinants of perceived health status of medical outpatients
BARSKY, A. J., Cleary, P. D., & Klerman, G. L. (1992) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/0277-9536(92)90288-2 · Cited by 143 · see citing works
Welin, L., Larsson, B., Svärdsudd, K., Tibblin, B., & Tibblin, G. (1992) · Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health · doi:10.1136/jech.46.2.127 · Cited by 126 · see citing works
van Wijk, C. M. T. G., Vliet, K. P. V., Kolk, A. M. M., & Everaerd, W. T. A. M. (1991) · Women & Health · doi:10.1300/j013v17n01_06 · Cited by 105 · see citing works
Habitual Physical Activity: Aerobic Power and Blood Lipids
Grimby, G., Wilhelmsen, L., Björntorp, P. A., Saltin, B., & Tibblin, G. (1971) · Advances in experimental medicine and biology · doi:10.1007/978-1-4613-4609-8_43 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Tibblin, G., rdsudd, K. S., Welin, L., Eriksson, H., & Larsson, B. (1993) · Journal of Hypertension · doi:10.1097/00004872-199306003-00015 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 3
- 3 Appels A, Bosma H, Grabauskas V, Gostautas A, Sturmans F. Selfrated health and mortality in a Lithunian and a Dutch population. Soc Sci Med 1996; 28: 681-90.
- 15 Östergren P-O. Psychosocial Resources and Health. With Special Reference to Social Network, Social Support and Cardiovascular Disease. (Academic thesis.) Malmö: Lund University, 1991.
- 16 Idler E. Self-assessed health and mortality: a review of studies. Int Rev Health Psychol 1992; 1: 33-54.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Ruiz-Frutos, C., Ortega-Moreno, M., Allande-Cussó, R., Domínguez-Salas, S., Dias, A., & Gómez-Salgado, J. (2021) · Safety Science · doi:10.1016/j.ssci.2020.104996 · Cited by 76 · see citing works
Johnson, R., Jenkinson, D., Stinton, C., Taylor-Phillips, S., Madan, J., Stewart-Brown, S., & Clarke, A. (2016) · Health and Quality of Life Outcomes · doi:10.1186/s12955-016-0532-5 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Transnational parenting and the well-being of Angolan migrant parents in Europe
MAZZUCATO, V., DITO, B. B., GRASSI, M., & VIVET, J. (2017) · Global Networks · doi:10.1111/glob.12132 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Ramalho, S., Saint-Maurice, P. F., Silva, D., Mansilha, H. F., Silva, C., Gonçalves, S., Machado, P., & Conceição, E. (2020) · Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia Bulimia and Obesity · doi:10.1007/s40519-018-0623-x · Cited by 8 · see citing works
- Authors
- Eriksson, I., Undén, A.-L., & Elofsson, S.
- Affiliations
- Karolinska University Hospital (SE)
- Corresponding author
- Eriksson, Ingeborg
- Venue
- International Journal of Epidemiology
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2001-04
- Volume
- 30
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 326-333
- ISSN
- 0300-5771 (ISSN-L)
- 1464-3685
- OpenAlex
- W2126960159
- Cited by
- 502
- References
- 15
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 33 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 20 · 2019: 24 · 2018: 29 · 2017: 27 · 2016: 38 · 2015: 22 · 2014: 25 · 2013: 23 · 2012: 26
- FWCI
- 20.75
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- International Journal of Epidemiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of Life
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health and Medical Studies
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Keywords
- self-rated health, health perception, age differences, sex differences, older adults, health determinants
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Age Factors, Aged, Female, Health Surveys, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Surveys and Questionnaires, Regression Analysis, Self-Assessment, Sex Factors, Socioeconomic Factors, Multivariate Analysis
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
