Ratings Of Overall Health Research Articles

Self-rated health and limiting longstanding illness: inter-relationships with morbidity in early adulthood.

Self-rated health and limiting longstanding illness are both widely used global measures of health, but understanding is poor of their meaning and validity at younger ages. We examined the association between self-rated health and limiting longstanding illness and specific health problems at two ages (23 and 33 years), and assessed change over the 10-year period for each health measure relative to another. Longitudinal data were taken from the nationally representative British birth cohort for which health measures were obtained at ages 23 and 33. Self-rated health and limiting longstanding illness were strongly associated with each other as well as with specific health problems, particularly with serious conditions (e.g. epilepsy, cancer, diabetes) and more weakly with less serious conditions (e.g. eczema and hay fever). Rating of overall health and limiting longstanding illness was highly stable during the 10-year period with most, but not all, health change reflecting a deterioration in health status. Deterioration in limiting illness corresponded to an even greater health decline in specific conditions. Self-rated health and limiting longstanding illness are valid health measures appropriate for use in general health surveys.

Chronic fatigue syndrome, chronic fatigue, and psychiatric disorders: predictors of functional status in a national nursing sample.

Members of 2 nurses' associations (N = 71) were assessed using 2 mail questionnaires, a telephone questionnaire, the Diagnostic Interview Schedule, and medical records. Physicians reviewed participants to determine whether they met current criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Stepwise multivariate regression analyses were conducted to identify predictors of functional status scores. Impairments in physical, role, and social functioning increased as fatigue severity increased. Bodily pain increased as fatigue severity increased, and ratings of overall health increased as severity of fatigue decreased. Nurses with a current psychiatric diagnosis reported more impairments in emotional functioning than nurses with a lifetime diagnosis or no psychiatric diagnosis. Quality of life decreased as fatigue severity increased. Nurses with fatigue not meeting CFS criteria reported better quality of life than those with CFS or medical exclusions.

The relationship between self-rated health and depressive symptoms in an epidemiological sample of community-dwelling older adults.

To confirm the association between depression and self-rated general health, independent of demographics, functional disability, physical illness burden, and health services utilization. Logistic regression analyses of data obtained in a cross-sectional epidemiological survey. The mid-Monongahela Valley, a rural, nonfarm, low SES community. Random sample of 880 subjects aged 65 and older. The dependent variable was self-rated overall health, categorized as excellent, good, fair, or poor. The independent variables were demographics (age, gender, education), number of depressive symptoms, number of impaired instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), measures of physical illness burden (individual medical conditions, number of affected organ systems or disease processes, and number of prescription medications), and measures of health services utilization (number of visits to physicians, and acute hospitalization). Univariate analyses indicated that poorer self-rated health was associated with lesser education, higher numbers of depressive symptoms, impaired IADLs, prescription medications, physician visits, hospitalizations, and affected organ systems, and with the presence of several specific conditions. However, multiple logistic regression analyses revealed that only the following variables were associated independently with poorer self-rated health: age less than 75 years, education less than high school graduation, greater numbers of depressive symptoms, impaired IADLs, prescription medications, and physician visits. Even when controlling for physical illness and functional disability, subjective rating of overall health remains strongly and independently associated with depressive symptoms.

Spirometry and Dyspnea in Patients With COPD: When Small Differences Mean Little

To determine when a difference in FEV1 is sufficiently large to be associated with a noticeable difference in dyspnea symptoms for patients with chronic lung disease. Cross-sectional analysis of 15 groups (n = 112 patients, 832 contrasts). Respiratory rehabilitation program. Patients with COPD (mean FEV1 = 35% predicted). Patients' perspectives assessed through subjective comparison ratings of dyspnea and of overall health. Relation between the FEV1 and patients' perspectives determined the smallest difference in spirometry that was associated with a noticeable difference in patients' symptoms. The FEV1 was moderately correlated with patients' ratings of dyspnea (r = 0.29; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.22 to 0.35). In contrast, the FEV1 was minimally correlated with patients' ratings of overall health (r = 0.10; 95% CI, 0.03 to 0.17). The FEV1 needed to differ by 4% predicted for the average patient to stop rating his or her dyspnea as "about the same" and start rating his or her dyspnea as either "a little bit better" or "a little bit worse" relative to other patients (95% CI, 1.5 to 6.5). This was equivalent to the average patient's FEV1 increasing by 112 mL (starting from 975 mL and ending at 1,087 mL). Some statistically significant differences in the FEV1 are so small that they may not represent important differences in symptoms for the average patient with severe COPD; an awareness of the smallest difference in FEV1 that is noticeable to patients can help clinicians interpret the effectiveness of symptomatic treatments.