Longitudinal study of associations between perceived health status and self reported diseases in the French Gazel cohort

doi:10.1136/jech.55.4.233

Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 2001;55:233-238; doi:10.1136/jech.55.4.233

J Epidemiol Community Health 2001;55:233-238 ( April )

Research report

Longitudinal study of associations between perceived health status and self reported diseases in the French Gazel cohort P Goldberg, A Guéguen, A Schmaus, J-P Nakache, M Goldberg

INSERM U88, HNSM, Saint-Maurice, France

Correspondence to: Dr Goldberg, INSERM U88, HNSM, 14 rue du Val-d'Osne, F-94415 Saint-Maurice Cedex, France (p.goldberg{at}st-maurice.inserm.fr)

Accepted for publication 31 October 2000

STUDY OBJECTIVE $---$ Although perceived health status is an indicator widely used in epidemiological studies, its relation to various diseasesis not well known. The objective of this study is to examine theserelations indetail.
DESIGN $---$ Marginal models used for a longitudinal study of the association between three health scales and 47 diseases among 12 164men and 44 diseases among 4415women.
SETTING $---$ French Gazel cohort during the period from 1991 to1996.
MAIN RESULTS $---$ The general health status scale was significantly associated with 43 diseases among men, and 31 among women. Some of thesesignificantly associated diseases were physical (for example,cancer and cerebrovascular accident) and others, psychological(for example, depression). The mental fatigue scale was more specificallyassociated with psychological disorders, including sleep problems,depression, and nervous diseases. Moreover, modifications in subjects'assessment of their health from one year to the next were generallyassociated with modifications in reporteddiseases.
CONCLUSION $---$ Although the mechanism that relates the presence of a disease to perceived health status remains in question, these resultsshow clearly that there is a close association between these twodomains that justifies the use of perceived health as a proxyfor self reporteddiseases.

Keywords: marginal model; health scale; self rated disease

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