[Perceived general health and mortality].

Many international studies underline the importance of the health indicator "perceived general health" (PGH). For Germany, only few Longitudinal studies are available from recent years, dealing with the question whether PGH is a predictor for overall mortality. Based on a Mortality-Follow-up Study (n = 7212) under the auspices of the Federal Institute for Population Research the importance of the indicator PGH for the prediction of the mortality experience in the general population has been analysed for the period 1984 - 1998. The age-adjusted relative risk of "less than good health" for overall mortality is 2.11 (p <0.001) for males and 2.05 (p <0.001) for females (reference category: "good/very good health"). The relative risks for "poor health" are 4.32 (p <0,001) in males and 3.07 (p <0.001) in females. An inclusion of several control variables remarkably reduces these relative risks. The results indicate that the indicator "perceived general health" is an important predictor of overall mortality in Germany.