Self-Rated Health and Its Determinants in Female Population in Iran: A Community-Based Study

Abstract

Background: Self-rated health (SRH), as a single-item self-assessment of health, has been widely used in research on health inequalities in both developed and developing countries. However, limited studies have been conducted on SRH in Iran. The present study aimed to evaluate SRH and its related factors among Iranian women. Methods: In this population-based, cross-sectional study, 1200 women > 18 years old who lived in different districts of Sanandaj, western Iran, in 2012 were randomly selected through stratified cluster sampling. SRH, as the main outcome variable, was categorized as poor or good. The results of evaluation of the associated factors with SRH were presented as odds ratios (OR), and bootstrap method was used to obtain 95% confidence interval (95% CI). Results: The overall prevalence of poor SRH among women was 37.68% (95% CI: 34.74, 40.61). Even after adjustment for other factors, the most important determinants of poor SRH were old age (OR = 3.92, 95% CI: 2.59, 5.94), being married (OR = 1.38, 95% CI: 1.04, 1.83), quality of health services (OR = 0.62, 95% CI: 0.43, 0.88), and household's income level (OR = 0.22, CI: 0.14, 0.35). Conclusions: The proportion of poor SRH varied depending on socioeconomic and socio-demographic determinants. As SRH is an important predictor of death, individuals with the related factors, such as advanced age, being married, household's low-income level, and low quality of health services, should be considered as the priority target population.

Can a Single General Self-Rated Health Question Mirror Social Determinant of Health?

“…Our study, similar to other studies, showed that older participants were more likely to assess their health as sub-optimal ( 34 , 35 , 46 – 48 ). After adjusting for other characteristics, there was no significant association between age and SRH.…”

Self-rated health and general procrastination in nurses: a cross-sectional study

“…In another study on Brazilian nurses, 77.6% had a good SRH and 22.4% a poor SRH [ 21 ]. In a study conducted in Iran on women from Sanandaj, a good SRH was reported in 62.32% and a poor SRH in 37.68% [ 16 ]. A study conducted in Germany reported a poor SRH in 8.5% of the geriatric nurses, 9.2% of the general nurses, and 20.7% of the early childhood education nurses, while the rest had good, very good and excellent SRH [ 22 ].…”

“…Stratified random sampling was used, and each hospital was allocated a set quota, and a list of the nurses´ names (with a bachelor´s degree and higher) was obtained from the hospital nursing office, and those with less than one year of work experience or on a long leave were excluded from the list, and the required samples were selected from the list using a simple random method. The required sample size was estimated based on the prevalence of poor SRH, which has been assumed to be 38% among nurses [ 16 ]. For a 95% chance of the sample estimate being only 6% above or below this assumed prevalence (38 ± 6%), a sample size of 252 was needed.…”

Self-Rated Health among General Population in the West of Iran: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Socioeconomic Determinants

“…The city is located in the border region of Iraq-Iran. According to the prevalence of poor self-rated health of 37.7% in Iran [20], a sample size of 1,445 subjects at 0.05 significance level (α) and a precision of 0.025 (d) was calculated. The target population was a convenience sample of inmates at the Kermanshah city.…”

“…In addition, there are few studies conducted on the SRH in Iran as a developing country [10][11][12][13] and most of the related results were extracted from the CASPIAN IV study [14][15][16][17][18][19]. Based on the evidence from these Iranian studies, about 5.7% of a general population reported their health status as poor [12] while another similar study conducted on women has reported the poor SRH of 37.7% [20]. There was no similar study on the mentioned issue in the small communities such as western Iran.…”