Evaluation of self-rated health – information on patients’ unmet needs?

Abstract

Abstract Background: Self-rated health (SRH) reflects a person’s experience of their own health, including the biological, sociological and psychological factors. It is frequently used in population studies but can provide primary physicians with additional information regarding patients’ needs. Objectives: To analyse determinants of SRH according to physical health, patient demographic characteristics and frequency of practice attendance. Methods: Analysed data derived from the national part of the EPA-Cardio project. Several patient characteristics and SRH as an outcome measure were analysed in three groups of patients: with coronary disease, with high risk for cardiovascular disease and with low risk for cardiovascular disease, randomly chosen from the practice registers and lists of 36 practices. Results: 2524 patients participated (response rate 70.1%). Coronary patients and those with the highest number of chronic diseases rated their health the lowest. Low SRH was found in women, older patients, the unemployed and in patients with a lower level of education. Low SRH was associated with higher body weight, lower satisfaction with the practice and a higher number of practice visits. Conclusion: Several determinants were shown to be important for SRH. Physical health reflected by chronic disease and multimorbidity and life-style determined by body weight were shown to be important for SRH in the population of family practice. Socio-economic characteristics (employment, education level) were also reflected in SRH. Lower SRH, associated with higher frequency of attendance of the practice and lower satisfaction with the practice, points to the unmet needs of the patients.