[Shift in the self-perceived health of 55-64-year olds between 1992 and 2002].

OBJECTIVE

Self-perceived health describes how a person perceives his or her own health. It is a widely used measure of health status. The aim of this study is to investigate the stability of self-perceived health between 1992/'93 and 2002/'03 of men and women aged 55-64 and to what extent a possible shift can be explained by demographic factors, lifestyle factors and objective health.

METHODS

Data of two age-, sex- and region-stratified samples are used from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA), an ongoing cohort study in a population-based sample of older persons in the Netherlands. Self-perceived health is defined by the answer to the following question: How would you rate your health in general? with possible answers: 1 = excellent, 2 = good, 3 = fair, 4 = sometimes good/sometimes poor and 5 = poor. In the analyses, answers 4 and 5 are combined because of the small number of answers in the category 'poor'. The difference in self-perceived health between the two cohorts is tested using the chi2-test. Multinomial regression analyses are used to examine which cohort and/or period factors are responsible for the cohort difference.

RESULTS

The youngest cohort rated more excellent and poor health than the oldest, and less good and fair health. The youngest cohort had a higher prevalence of chronic illness, functional limitation and depressive symptoms, which negatively affected self-perceived health. The cohort and period factors do not significantly contribute to the explanation of the cohort difference.

CONCLUSION

There is a small shift in self-perceived health over time. In comparison with the oldest cohort the self-perceived health of the youngest improved, taken the deteriorated objective health of the youngest cohort into account.