Self-rated health as a predictor of mid-term and long-term mortality in older Afro-Caribbeans hospitalised via the emergency department.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To determine whether self-rated health (SRH) is an independent predictor for mortality in older Afro-Caribbean patients hospitalised for an acute condition. METHODS: Prospective cohort of patients recruited from the University Hospitals of Martinique Acute Care for Elders unit. Patients aged 75 or older and hospitalised for an acute condition were eligible. The outcome was time to death within the 36-week follow-up. SRH was the explanatory variable of interest. Cox's Proportional Hazards model was used to estimate the relationship between SRH and mortality. RESULTS: The 223 patients included in the study were aged 85.1 ± 5.5 years. In total, 123 patients reported "very good to good" health, and 100 "medium to very poor" health. Crude mortality rates at six months, 1, 2, and 3 years were 30.5, 34.8, 48.4, and 57.0%, respectively. By multivariate analysis, SRH reached significant relationship for all mortality timepoints. The adjusted hazard ratios for subjects who perceived their health as medium, poor or very poor was 1.6-2.7 times greater than that of subjects who reported good or very good health. CONCLUSION: Assessment of SRH could have implications for clinical practice, particularly in helping practitioners to better estimate prognosis in the acute care settings.