Abstract

BackgroundSelf-rated health is a subjective measure that has been related to indicators such as mortality, morbidity, functional capacity, and the use of health services. In Spain, there are few longitudinal studies associating self-rated health with hospital services use. The purpose of this study is to analyze the association between self-rated health and socioeconomic, demographic, and health variables, and the use of hospital services among the general population in the Region of Valencia, Spain.MethodsLongitudinal study of 5,275 adults who were included in the 2005 Region of Valencia Health Survey and linked to the Minimum Hospital Data Set between 2006 and 2009. Logistic regression models were used to calculate the odds ratios between use of hospital services and self-rated health, sex, age, educational level, employment status, income, country of birth, chronic conditions, disability and previous use of hospital services.ResultsBy the end of a 4-year follow-up period, 1,184 participants (22.4 %) had used hospital services. Use of hospital services was associated with poor self-rated health among both men and women. In men, it was also associated with unemployment, low income, and the presence of a chronic disease. In women, it was associated with low educational level, the presence of a disability, previous hospital services use, and the presence of chronic disease. Interactions were detected between self-rated health and chronic disease in men and between self-rated health and educational level in women.ConclusionsSelf-rated health acts as a predictor of hospital services use. Various health and socioeconomic variables provide additional predictive capacity. Interactions were detected between self-rated health and other variables that may reflect different complex predictive models, by gender.

Highlights

  • Self-rated health is a subjective measure that has been related to indicators such as mortality, morbidity, functional capacity, and the use of health services

  • A total of 206 participants were excluded from the follow-up, either because their records could not be linked with complete certainty (178 cases) or because they had died in 2005 (28 cases), leaving a total of 5,275 participants for follow-up and analysis

  • This study has shown that Self-rated health (SRH) is a predictor of hospital service use after 4 years of follow-up among the general population in Spain, a subject which has received little research attention in that country

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Summary

Introduction

Self-rated health is a subjective measure that has been related to indicators such as mortality, morbidity, functional capacity, and the use of health services. Self-rated health (SRH) is a simple measure that has been shown to be a good indicator since it provides a global overview of a population’s health status and has been related at the individual level to indicators such as mortality, morbidity, functional capacity, and use of health services, among others [1,2,3,4]. This indicator has been used to identify groups at risk so as to analyze hospital costs [10, 12]

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