Self-rated Health Status and Associated Factors in Rural Workers

Abstract

Background: Self-rated health status can be considered a good predictor of morbidity and mortality and has been used because of its easy assessment and applicability. The instrument is efficient for understanding sociodemographic, environmental and clinical conditions that may be related to the self-rated health status. Thus, this study aims to analyze the self-assessment of health status in rural workers and its association with socioeconomic characteristics, lifestyle, clinical condition and work characteristics.Methods: This is a cross-sectional study carried out with farmers of both sexes who had agriculture as their main source of income, in the municipality of Santa Maria de Jetibá. A simple and direct question was used: “In general, compared to people your age, how do you rate your own state of health?” to see how they rate their current health status. The independent variables analyzed were socioeconomic, clinical, health and work conditions. The magnitude of the associations was evaluated by means of hierarchical logistic regression in levels. Results: It was found that 42.1% of farmers self-rated their health status as regular or poor. Females had a risk of worse self-rated health (OR=0,705; 95% CI: 0,522 - 0,951), socioeconomic classes C (OR=1,937; 95% CI: 1,009-3,720), D/E (OR= 2,280; 95% CI: 1,178-4,415), the body mass index (OR=1,477; 95% CI: 1,086-2,008), multimorbidity (OR=1,715; 95% CI: 1,201-2,447) and complex multimorbidity (OR=1,738;95% CI: 1,097-2,751). Conclusion: It was concluded that the presence of chronic diseases, socioeconomic status, female gender and overweight were risk factors for a negative self-rated health. The identification of these determinants through self-rated can support the planning of actions aimed at the health of the rural population.Register: This study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Health Sciences Center of the Federal University of Espírito Santo, under protocol number nº. 2091172 (CAAE 52839116.3.0000.5060). All research participants signed the Informed Consent Term.