Risk Factors For Poor Self-rated Health Research Articles

Association of the number of teeth and self-rated mastication with self-rated health in community-dwelling Japanese aged 40 years and older: the Yamagata cohort study

Self-rated health (SRH) is a predictive factor for health-related prognoses such as mortality. This study aimed to comprehensively investigate the risk factors for poor SRH in the general population of Japan, focusing on the combination of the number of teeth and self-rated mastication. Individuals aged at least 40 years in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan, were surveyed from 2017 to 2021. The participants answered a self-administered postal survey on lifestyle factors, medical history, physical and mental conditions, oral health, and dietary intake, and 6739 participants were included. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that individuals with less than 20 teeth and who bite tightly on one side or neither side were at a 1.422- and 1.952-fold significantly higher risk, respectively, of poor SRH than individuals with at least 20 teeth and who bite tightly on both sides. Moreover, individuals who had less than 20 teeth but could bite tightly on both sides did not have a significant risk compared to those who had at least 20 teeth and could bite tightly on both sides. Regarding individuals with more than 20 teeth, there was no difference between those who could and could not bite tightly on both sides, although the odds ratios for poor SRH tended to increase for those who could bite on one side or neither side. Our results emphasize the importance of having at least 20 teeth without periodontal disease and oral rehabilitation using a type of prosthesis for SRH, even with less than 20 teeth.

Associations between occupational factors and self-rated health in the national Brazilian working population

BackgroundThe literature remains seldom on the topic of self-rated health (SRH) among the national working populations of emerging countries. The objectives of the study were to examine the associations of occupational factors with SRH in a national representative sample of the working population in Brazil.MethodsThis study relied on a cross-sectional sample of 36,442 workers, 16,992 women and 19,450 men. SRH was the studied health outcome. Sixteen occupational factors related to four topics were studied: employment characteristics, working time/hours, psychosocial work factors and physical and chemical work exposures. The associations between occupational factors and SRH were studied using logistic regression models with adjustment for sociodemographic characteristics (age, ethnicity and marital status). The analyses were performed for each gender separately and using weights.ResultsThe prevalence of poor SRH was 26.71%, this prevalence being higher among women (29.77%) than among men (24.23%). The following risk factors for poor SRH were found among men and women: working as a self-employed worker, clerk/service worker, manual worker, part-time (≤ 20 h/week), exposure to work stress, exposure to high physical activity and exposure to sun. The risk factors for poor SRH among women only were: working as a domestic worker and exposure to noise, and among men, working in the agriculture sector.ConclusionsOur study suggested that occupational factors related to both physical and psychosocial work environment may be associated with SRH in the working population in Brazil. Improving working conditions may be beneficial for health at work in Brazil.

Effort-reward imbalance and self-rated health among Gambian healthcare professionals.

BackgroundThe effort-reward imbalance (ERI) model of work stress has been widely applied in investigating association between psychosocial factors at work and health. This study examined associations between perceived psychosocial work stress as measured by the ERI model and self-rated health (SRH) among nurses and environmental health officers (EHOs) working in secondary public healthcare facilities in the Gambia.MethodA cross-sectional study on a random sample of 287 health care professionals (201 nurses and 86 EHOs). A 22-item ERI questionnaire was used to collect data on the psychosocial factors defined by the ERI model. SRH was assessed using a single item measure.ResultsThe distribution of subjective health was not statistically different between nurses and EHOs. However, our study uncovered significant associations between perceived psychosocial work stress and subjective health. Specifically, we found that a perceived high effort-reward imbalance (ER-ratio > 1) is a significant risk factor for poor SRH, in both occupational groups. However, over-commitment was not significantly associated with poor SRH in the two groups. When efforts and rewards were considered as separate variables in the analysis, rewards were inversely associated with poor SRH in both groups.ConclusionBecause of the high perceived Effort-Reward Imbalance among healthcare professionals at secondary public healthcare facilities, it is necessary to modify working conditions through improvement of psychosocial work environment, such as reasonable allocation of resources to increase pay, incentives or other forms of rewards from government. Interventions that could mitigate and prevent stress at work are worth considering in future healthcare policies.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12913-016-1347-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Prospective study of predictors of poor self-rated health in a 23-year cohort of earthquake survivors in Armenia

Long-term prospective studies exploring general health outcomes among disaster survivors are rare. Self-rated health (SRH) – a proven correlate of morbidity and mortality prognosis – was used to investigate predictors of perceived health status among a 23-year cohort of survivors of 1988 Spitak earthquake in Armenia. A geographically-stratified subsample of 725 adults from a larger initial cohort was followed during the period of 1990–2012. A logistic regression model identified predictors of SRH. Adjusted relative risks for the long-term predictors of SRH were calculated. The rate of poor SRH among the survivors was 18.8%, fair 56.5%, and good/excellent 24.7%. In the fitted model, long-term risk factors of poor SRH included baseline body mass index, baseline multi-morbidity, number of experienced stressful life events, and perceived poor living standards during the post-earthquake decade, while participation in sports in the early 1990s was a protective factor. Short-term protective factors included socio-economic status score, social support, employment and dignity, while current household size was a risk factor for poor SRH. No association was found between earthquake exposure severity and SRH after 23years. However, the identified predictors included a number of modifiable lifestyle, material and psychological factors. Thus, interventions targeting these factors could have a long-lasting impact on disaster victims’ health status.

The contribution of lifestyle and work factors to social inequalities in self-rated health among the employed population in Switzerland

We sought to examine the joint and independent contributions of working conditions and health-related behaviours in explaining social gradients in self-rated health (SRH). Nationally representative cross-sectional data from the Swiss Health Survey of 2007 were used for this study. Bi- and multivariate statistical analyses were carried out on a sample of 6950 adult employees of working age. We examined a comprehensive set of five health behaviours and lifestyle factors as well as twelve physical and psychosocial work factors as potential mediators of the relationship between social status and SRH. Analyses were stratified by sex and performed using two measures of social status, educational level and occupational position. Strong social gradients were found for SRH, but mainly in men whereas in women the associations were either not linear (educational level) or not statistically significant (occupational position). Social gradients were also found for most lifestyle and all physical and psychosocial work factors studied. These three groups of factors equally contributed to and largely accounted for the social gradients in SRH although not all of the individual factors turned out to be independent and significant risk factors for poor SRH. Such risk factors included physical inactivity and obesity, poor posture and no or low social support at work (both sexes), heavy smoking (men) and underweight, overweight, uniform arm or hand movements at work, monotonous work and job insecurity (women). In conclusion, social inequalities (or more precisely educational and occupational status differences) in SRH were more pronounced in men and can be attributed for the most part to a sedentary lifestyle and to a physically demanding and socially unsupportive and insecure work environment. Apart from this main finding and overall pattern, sex-specific risk profiles were observed with regard to SRH and need to be taken into consideration.