Sociodemographic and work-related determinants of self-rated health trajectories: a collaborative meta-analysis of cohort studies from Europe and the US
: Prakash, K. C.; Stenholm, Sari; Kyrönlahti, Saila; Kulmala, Jenni; Tanjung, Kamilia; Nosraty, Lily; Leino-Arjas, Päivi; Goldberg, Marcel; Nyåard, Clas-Håkan; Kivimaeki, Mika; Neupane, Subas
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
: BERLIN
: 2025
: Scientific Reports
: Scientific Reports
: SCI REP-UK
: 5394
: 15
: 1
: 14
: 2045-2322
: 2045-2322
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-89947-5
: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-89947-5
: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/491245263
Self-rated health is a major indicator of an individual's overall health status, but its development during midlife to old age, as well as influence of sociodemographic and work-related factors on it, are poorly understood. We used longitudinal individual-level data to examine trajectories of self-rated health and their determinants in 38,163 participants (median age 50 (range 36-66) years at baseline) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, the Finnish Longitudinal Study on Aging Municipal Employees, and the French GAZ and ELectricit & eacute; study from Europe and the Health and Retirement Study from the US. A group-based latent trajectory analysis showed that self-rated health was constantly good for over half of the participants, constantly suboptimal for about 11-21%, and it was changing, either improving or declining, for the rest. Pooled evidence suggests that being single (summary odds ratio 1.20, 95% confidence interval 1.07-1.35), medium educational attainment (1.26, 1.16-1.37), medium occupational class (1.22, 1.10-1.34), and exposure to high physical job demands (1.18, 1.08-1.29) were associated with declining self-rated health. Suboptimal self-rated health was more prevalent among those in low occupational class (1.81, 1.56-2.10), and those who experienced high physical job demands (1.52, 1.33-1.74). In these European and US populations, 23-40% of people experienced suboptimal or declining health trajectories. In conclusion, large variation in development of self-rated health from midlife to old age was observed and it was partly determined by sociodemographic and work-related factors.
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This study was funded by the Academy of Finland project grant (Project grant: 'IPD-MAD 340521’) to SN. MK was supported by the Wellcome Trust (221854/Z/20/Z), Medical Research Council (R024227), National Institute on Aging (R01AG062553, R01AG056477), Academy of Finland (350426), and Finnish Foundation for Cardiovascular Research (a86898).
