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.
Keywords : Health Status; Aged; Risk; Coronary Disease; Cause of Death