Subjective life expectancy is a risk factor for perceived health status and mortality

The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between subjective life expectancy (SLE) and self-rated health and further SLE will predict higher risk for mortality.

Data from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (KLoSA) from 2006 to 2014 was assessed using longitudinal data analysis and 10,244 research subjects were included at baseline in 2006. Our modeling approach was based on generalized estimating equation (GEE) for self-rated health and Cox proportional hazards models for mortality.

SLE was significantly associated with mortality (p for trend <0.0001), with the following ORs predicting mortality (yes vs. no): HR = 2.133 (p < .0001) for 0%, HR = 1.805 (p < .0001) for 10-20%, HR = 1.494 (p 0.002) for 30-40%, HR = 1.423 (p 0.002) for 50-60%, HR = 1.157 (p 0.235) for 70-80%, vs. 90-100%. In terms of age-specific association with SLE for self-rated health and mortality, as subjects got older, self-rated health tended to lean more toward poor self-rated health, but as for mortality, the probability of dying increased for people who are younger and HR also tended to increase.

This study has shown that SLE is associated with self-rated health and further is a powerful predictor of mortality after adjusting for self-rated health as well as sociodemographic factors and health risk status and behavior factors in a representative population of Koreans.