Table 4

The elderly's self assessed health as predictors of functional decline and mortality by gender

Self assessed health		Functional decline^‡				Mortality^§
Self assessed health		Male	Female			Male	Female
General health
Global health
Excellent	1.00	1.00		1.00	1.00
Very good	1.39	1.12		0.94	1.08
Good	2.02^**	1.24		1.12	1.09
Fair/poor	2.85^***	1.11		1.25^†	1.23^†
Taking care of health
Excellent	1.00	1.00		1.00	1.00
Very good	1.01	1.31^*		1.45^**	1.01
Good	1.09	1.24		1.63^***	1.02
Fair/poor	1.09	2.37^***		1.26	0.91
Worry over health
Not at all	1.00	1.00		1.00	1.00
Hardly any	0.96	1.09		0.81^*	0.89
Some	0.86	1.14		0.94	0.92
Great deal	0.93	1.17		1.05	0.81^†
Control over future health
A great deal	1.00	1.00		1.00	1.00
Some control	1.25	1.03		0.98	1.00
None/very little	0.83	1.23		1.11	1.02
Physical health
Physical activity relative to peers
A lot more active	1.00	1.00		1.00	1.00
More active	0.85	1.05		1.03	0.99
About as active	1.06	1.41^**		1.17	1.18^†
Less active	2.71^**	1.22		1.60^**	1.40^**
Getting exercise
As much as needed	1.00	1.00		1.00	1.00
Less than needed	1.14	1.15		1.01	1.05
Mental health
Trouble remembering things
Never	1.00	1.00		1.00	1.00
Rarely	0.81	0.86		0.82^†	1.02
Sometimes/frequently	0.85	0.94		0.78^***	0.94
Frequency getting confused
Never	1.00	1.00		1.00	1.00
Rarely	1.09	0.92		1.17^†	1.07
Sometimes/frequently	1.41^†	1.34^*		0.84^†	1.08

Adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics, functioning, disease/conditions, and use of services (see tables 2 and 3) as well as for each of the self assessed health measures. ^‡Adjusted odds ratios. Change in disability level (none, IADLs only, 1-2 ADLs, 3-5 ADLs) between 1984 and 1990 coded as 0=no change/improvement, 1=deterioration. ^§Adjusted hazard ratios. ^†p<0.1, ^*p<0.05,^**p<0.01, ^***p<0.001.