Abstract
ObjectiveSelf-reported general health and mental health are independent predictors of all-cause mortality. This study examines whether they are also independent predictors of incident cancer, coronary heart disease and psychiatric hospitalisation.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective, population cohort study by linking the 19 625 Scottish adults who participated in the Scottish Health Surveys 1995–2003, to hospital admissions, cancer registration and death certificate records. We conducted Cox proportional hazard models adjusting for potential confounders including age, sex, socioeconomic status, alcohol, smoking status, body mass index, hypertension and diabetes.ResultsPoor general health was reported by 1215 (6.2%) participants and was associated with cancer registrations (adjusted Hazard Ratio [HR] 1.30, 95% CI 1.10, 1.55), coronary heart disease events (adjusted HR 2.30, 95% CI 1.86, 2.84) and psychiatric hospitalisations (adjusted HR 2.42, 95% CI 1.65, 3.56). There was evidence of dose relationships and the associations remained significant after adjustment for mental health. 3172 (16%) participants had poor mental health (GHQ ≥4). After adjustment for general health, the associations between poor mental health and coronary heart disease events (adjusted HR 1.36, 95% CI 1.13, 1.63) and all-cause death (adjusted HR 1.38, 95% CI 1.23, 1.55) became non-significant, but mental health remained associated with psychiatric hospitalisations (fully adjusted HR 2.02, 95% CI 1.48, 2.75).ConclusionSelf-reported general health is a significant predictor of a range of clinical outcomes independent of mental health. The association between mental health and non-psychiatric outcomes is mediated by general health but it is an independent predictor of psychiatric outcome. Individuals with poor general health or mental health warrant close attention.
Highlights
Self-reported general health (GH) is a simple but reliable measure of overall, subjective well-being [1,2]
Studies suggest that GH is influenced more by physical health than mental health (MH) [8,9]
GH was a significant predictor of incident cancer, psychiatric hospitalisations and coronary heart disease events as well as allcause mortality
Summary
Self-reported general health (GH) is a simple but reliable measure of overall, subjective well-being [1,2]. Several studies have demonstrated that it is a significant predictor of all-cause mortality [3,4,5]. There is a relative paucity of studies on the association between GH and specific diseases, especially in relation to non-fatal outcomes such as hospitalisation. It is not clear to what extent the association is independent of lifestyle factors [6,7]. Studies suggest that GH is influenced more by physical health than mental health (MH) [8,9]. It is unclear whether GH predicts psychiatric hospitalisations as well as physical disease
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
