16 research outputs found
Life expectancy and self-reported health: related factors in 36 countries
Life expectancy at birth (LE) is the most commonly used
objective measure to describe population health reflecting
mortality from all causes at all ages. Self-reported health (SRH)
is a subjective measure that has been shown as a good
predictor of hospitalization and mortality.
We explored the correlations between these two variables and
22 indicators relating to 10 areas (Housing, Income, Jobs,
Community, Education, Environment, Civic engagement, Life
satisfaction, Safety, Work-life balance) in all 34 OECD
countries plus Russia and Brazil.
All data were taken from OECD Better Life Index set, reference
years: 2011, 2012 and 2013.
Data were evaluated using Kendall’s tau correlation test,
Bonferroni correction was applied and p set at 0.0023.
There was no strong significant correlation between LE and
SRH (p 0.0182).
LE showed statistically significant negative association with
‘‘Percentage of dwellings without indoor toilet’’ (p 0.0008) and
‘‘Homicide rate’’ (p 0.0009) and positive association with all
Income group variables (‘‘Household net adjusted disposable
income’’, p 0.0002; ‘‘Household net financial wealth’’,
p 0.0001), ‘‘Personal earnings’’ (p 0.0021) and ‘‘Water quality’’
(p 0.0013). SRH was negatively correlated with ‘‘Percentage of
dwellings without indoor toilet’’ (p < 0.0001) and positively
correlated with ‘‘Number of rooms per person’’ (p < 0.0001),
‘‘Personal earnings’’ (p 0.0009), ‘‘Quality of support network’’
(p 0.0006) and ‘‘Life satisfaction’’ (p 0.0002).
The only two variables that correlate strongly with both LE and
SRH are ‘‘Percentage of dwellings without indoor toilet’’ and
‘‘Personal earnings’’. Our results show that LE and SRH reflect
different aspects of population health. SRH seems to underestimate
the importance of Income and Environment variables
while LE results not associated with indicators relevant for
quality of life.
Key messages
Life expectancy and self-reported health are both important
measures that reflects different aspects of health. They
should not replace but complement each other
Level of average earnings and percentage of dwellings
without indoor toilet can be considered as good objective
and subjective population health indicator