Self-rated health in Pakistan: results of a national health survey.
Journal Article (Journal Article)
Background
Self-rated health (SRH) is a robust predictor of mortality. In UK, migrants of South Asian descent, compared to native Caucasian populations, have substantially poorer SRH. Despite its validation among migrant South Asian populations and its popularity in developed countries as a useful public health tool, the SRH scale has not been used at a population level in countries in South Asia. We determined the prevalence of and risk factors for poor/fair SRH among individuals aged > or =15 years in Pakistan (n = 9442).Methods
The National Health Survey of Pakistan was a cross-sectional population-based survey, conducted between 1990 and 1994, of 18,135 individuals aged 6 months and above; 9442 of them were aged > or =15 years. Our main outcome was SRH which was assessed using the question: "Would you say your health in general is excellent, very good, good, fair, or poor?" SRH was dichotomized into poor/fair, and good (excellent, very good, or good).Results
Overall 65.1% respondents -- 51.3 % men vs. 77.2 % women -- rated their health as poor/fair. We found a significant interaction between sex and age (p < 0.0001). The interaction was due to the gender differences only in the ages 15-19 years, whereas poor/fair SRH at all older ages was more prevalent among women and increased at the same rate as it did among men. We also found province of dwelling, low or middle SES, literacy, rural dwelling and current tobacco use to be independently associated with poor/fair SRH.Conclusion
This is the first study reporting on poor/fair SRH at a population-level in a South Asian country. The prevalence of poor/fair health in Pakistan, especially amongst women, is one of the worst ever reported, warranting immediate attention. Further research is needed to explain why women in Pakistan have, at all ages, poorer SRH than men.Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- Ahmad, K; Jafar, TH; Chaturvedi, N
Published Date
- May 2005
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 5 /
Start / End Page
- 51 -
PubMed ID
- 15943882
Pubmed Central ID
- PMC1164420
Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)
- 1471-2458
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
- 1471-2458
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.1186/1471-2458-5-51
Language
- eng