TY - JOUR
T1 - A general pattern of health erosion in the United States? An examination of self-reported health status from 1997 – 2018
AU - Santos-Lozada, Alexis R.
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported by the Social Science Research Institute (SSRI) and the Population Research Institute ( PRI ) at the Pennsylvania State University . PRI is supported by a grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development ( P2CHD041025 ) and by the Pennsylvania State University and its Social Science Research Institute. The author is supported by a Diversity Supplement granted through the Interdisciplinary Network on Rural Population Health and Aging by the National Institute on Aging ( R24AG065159 ).
Funding Information:
The author does not have any material, immaterial, financial or potential conflict of interests to disclose. Publication of this article was supported by the Social Science Research Institute (SSRI) and the Population Research Institute (PRI) at the Pennsylvania State University. PRI is supported by an infrastructure grant by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P2CHD041025). The content is solely the responsibility of the author and does not represent the official position of the National Institutes of Health.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author
PY - 2022/6
Y1 - 2022/6
N2 - Purpose: Recent research has found a general pattern of health erosion in self-assessed pain and allostatic load among adults in the United States (US). It remains to be determined if self-reported health status, hereafter SRH, also follows this pattern. The aim of this study was to examine whether a general pattern of health erosion is found in SRH among adults in the United States (US). Methods: Data from the National Health Interview Survey 1997–2018 were used to study sex, educational attainment, and racial/ethnic patterns in SRH by age, period and cohort among adults in the US. The analytic sample consisted of respondents aged 18 years or older at the moment of interview with valid information in the age, sex, education, race/ethnicity and health status question (n = 669,501). Estimates for the percent population reporting poor/fair health were produced by age, period and cohort to study trends in health status by sex, educational attainment and race/ethnicity. All estimates were weighted to account for complex survey design. Results: No discernible pattern of health erosion, or improvement, is observed in the age, period or cohort analyses of the percent of the population reporting poor/fair SRH by sex, educational attainment or race/ethnicity. Conclusions: The analysis indicates that self-reported health does not follows the general pattern of health erosion found in self-assessed pain and allostatic load in the US. The percent of the population reporting poor/fair health status has remained relatively stable between 1997 and 2018. Further research is required to determine whether self-reported health is an appropriate metric to track population health in the US.
AB - Purpose: Recent research has found a general pattern of health erosion in self-assessed pain and allostatic load among adults in the United States (US). It remains to be determined if self-reported health status, hereafter SRH, also follows this pattern. The aim of this study was to examine whether a general pattern of health erosion is found in SRH among adults in the United States (US). Methods: Data from the National Health Interview Survey 1997–2018 were used to study sex, educational attainment, and racial/ethnic patterns in SRH by age, period and cohort among adults in the US. The analytic sample consisted of respondents aged 18 years or older at the moment of interview with valid information in the age, sex, education, race/ethnicity and health status question (n = 669,501). Estimates for the percent population reporting poor/fair health were produced by age, period and cohort to study trends in health status by sex, educational attainment and race/ethnicity. All estimates were weighted to account for complex survey design. Results: No discernible pattern of health erosion, or improvement, is observed in the age, period or cohort analyses of the percent of the population reporting poor/fair SRH by sex, educational attainment or race/ethnicity. Conclusions: The analysis indicates that self-reported health does not follows the general pattern of health erosion found in self-assessed pain and allostatic load in the US. The percent of the population reporting poor/fair health status has remained relatively stable between 1997 and 2018. Further research is required to determine whether self-reported health is an appropriate metric to track population health in the US.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ssmph.2022.101095
DO - 10.1016/j.ssmph.2022.101095
M3 - Article
C2 - 35464612
AN - SCOPUS:85127867802
SN - 2352-8273
VL - 18
JO - SSM - Population Health
JF - SSM - Population Health
M1 - 101095
ER -