This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Lawrence, R. H. Articles by Assmann, S. F. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Lawrence, R. H. Articles by Assmann, S. F. Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Do Proxy Evaluations of Health Status Predict Mortality?

New England Research Institutes

Susan F. Assmann, PhD

New England Research Institutes

The ability of self-evaluations of health to predict mortality remains despite efforts to explain their contribution. To further the understanding of global evaluations, this study investigated whether proxy evaluations of health status also predict mortality. Data from the Longitudinal Study of Aging were used. For men and women, the unadjusted odds ratios for proxy evaluations exhibited a monotone relationship to 3-year and 7-year mortality rates and were predictive of 7-year mortality. This monotone relationship remained even after controlling for other factors when predicting 7-year mortality rates. However, only the fair and poor evaluations were significant, and only for men. The adjusted relationship when predicting 3-year mortality was not completely monotone, although good and poor proxy evaluations were significant. This suggests that proxy evaluations are useful, and that there are aspects of health status that are currently unmeasured but that should lend themselves to being quantified.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?