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Do proxy evaluations of health status predict mortality?
1New England Research Institutes, Watertown, MA 02172, USA.
Journal of Aging and Health
|April 7, 1997
Summary
Proxy health evaluations predict mortality, especially for men over 7 years. These insights suggest unmeasured health factors can be quantified for better health status prediction.
Area of Science:
- Gerontology
- Epidemiology
- Biostatistics
Background:
- Self-rated health is a known predictor of mortality.
- Understanding global health evaluations requires exploring other assessment methods.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if proxy evaluations of health status predict mortality.
- To determine the predictive power of proxy health assessments.
Main Methods:
- Utilized data from the Longitudinal Study of Aging.
- Analyzed unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios for proxy health evaluations.
- Examined 3-year and 7-year mortality rates.
Main Results:
- Proxy evaluations showed a monotone relationship with mortality rates for both men and women.
- Proxy evaluations predicted 7-year mortality, remaining significant after controlling for other factors.
- For 3-year mortality, only fair and poor evaluations were significant, primarily in men.
Conclusions:
- Proxy health evaluations are valuable predictors of mortality.
- Findings suggest unmeasured health aspects influencing mortality can be quantified.
- Further research is needed to identify and measure these unquantified health determinants.