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Reliability of perceived health by sex and age

Author

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  • Martikainen, Pekka
  • Aromaa, Arpo
  • Heliövaara, Markku
  • Klaukka, Timo
  • Knekt, Paul
  • Maatela, Jouni
  • Lahelma, Eero

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the test-retest reliability of a measure of perceived general health by sex and age. The study analyzed data from the nationally representative Mini-Finland Health Survey of 8000 adults aged 30 and over. The subjects were invited to attend a personal health interview and a health examination in 1978-1980. Altogether 7217 persons participated. Perceived general health was measured at the personal health interview and in the self-administered questionnaire 1-6 weeks apart. The identical questions were: how would you assess your current health? The response alternatives were good, fairly good, intermediate, fairly poor, poor and cannot say. This study showed that among men and women unweighted agreement of the 'good-intermediate-poor' categorization of perceived health was around 70% and unweighted [kappa]-values were around 0.5. Only in the oldest age-group (75+) reliability declined below these levels. The fair or good reliability of perceived health observed in this study gives additional confidence for using this general measure of overall health status in future research.

Suggested Citation

  • Martikainen, Pekka & Aromaa, Arpo & Heliövaara, Markku & Klaukka, Timo & Knekt, Paul & Maatela, Jouni & Lahelma, Eero, 1999. "Reliability of perceived health by sex and age," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 48(8), pages 1117-1122, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:48:y:1999:i:8:p:1117-1122
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    3. Aurea Grané & Irene Albarrán & Qi Guo, 2021. "Visualizing Health and Well-Being Inequalities Among Older Europeans," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 155(2), pages 479-503, June.
    4. Dalstra, J.A.A. & Kunst, A.E. & Mackenbach, J.P., 2006. "A comparative appraisal of the relationship of education, income and housing tenure with less than good health among the elderly in Europe," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(8), pages 2046-2060, April.
    5. Oksoo Kim & Bo Hye Kim & Hae Ok Jeon, 2012. "Risk factors related to hazardous alcohol consumption among Korean men with hypertension," Nursing & Health Sciences, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(2), pages 204-212, June.
    6. Nadine Häusler & Oliver Hämmig & Matthias Bopp, 2018. "Which Life Domains Impact Most on Self-Rated Health? A Cross-Cultural Study of Switzerland and its Neighbors," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 139(2), pages 787-802, September.
    7. Moses Wong & Ruby Yu & Jean Woo, 2017. "Effects of Perceived Neighbourhood Environments on Self-Rated Health among Community-Dwelling Older Chinese," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-17, June.
    8. Nelson, Connie Holmes & Park, Jungwee, 2006. "The nature and correlates of unmet health care needs in Ontario, Canada," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(9), pages 2291-2300, May.
    9. Heggebø, Kristian, 2015. "Unemployment in Scandinavia during an economic crisis: Cross-national differences in health selection," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 115-124.
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    11. Karmakar, Sunita D. & Breslin, F. Curtis, 2008. "The role of educational level and job characteristics on the health of young adults," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(9), pages 2011-2022, May.
    12. Cullati, Stéphane, 2014. "The influence of work-family conflict trajectories on self-rated health trajectories in Switzerland: A life course approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 23-33.
    13. Roos, Eva & Burström, Bo & Saastamoinen, Peppiina & Lahelma, Eero, 2005. "A comparative study of the patterning of women's health by family status and employment status in Finland and Sweden," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(11), pages 2443-2451, June.
    14. Evangelos C. Alexopoulos & Mary Geitona, 2009. "Self-Rated Health: Inequalities and Potential Determinants," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 6(9), pages 1-14, September.
    15. Desesquelles, Aline F. & Egidi, Viviana & Salvatore, Michele A., 2009. "Why do Italian people rate their health worse than French people do? An exploration of cross-country differentials of self-rated health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(6), pages 1124-1128, March.
    16. Wim Peersman & Dirk Cambier & Jan Maeseneer & Sara Willems, 2012. "Gender, educational and age differences in meanings that underlie global self-rated health," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 57(3), pages 513-523, June.
    17. Mine Kühn & Christian Dudel & Tobias C. Vogt & Anna Oksuzyan, 2017. "Trends in gender differences in health and mortality at working ages among West and East Germans," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2017-009, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.

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