Subjective state of health and survival in elderly adults.

The relationship between subjective state of health and 5-year survival in an elderly cohort was examined. During the 1978 study of the elderly population of Kiryat Ono, a suburban community in the central coastal area of Israel, respondents were asked to evaluate their general health status on a four-level scale, and their vital status was updated until 1983. A multivariate analysis of survival was conducted using the Cox Proportional Hazards Model. Self-rating of health was an independent predictor of survival after controlling for age, sex, continent of origin, number of conditions and medications reported, heart disease and activities of daily living (ADL). The self-rating of health was found to be an important psychosocial parameter in the evaluation of health status, in determining the prognosis of an elderly person, and in analyzing survival.