This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Emmelin, M. Articles by Wall, S. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Emmelin, M. Articles by Wall, S. Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Cardiovascular risk factor burden has a stronger association with self-rated poor health in adults in the US than in Sweden, especially for the lower educated

Epidemiology and Public Health Sciences, Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, UmeÅ University, UmeÅ, Sweden, maria.emmelin{at}epiph.umu.se

Anne N. Nafziger

Clinical Pharmacology Research Center and Department of Adult and Pediatric Medicine, Bassett Healthcare, Cooperstown, NY, USA

Hans Stenlund

Epidemiology and Public Health Sciences, Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, UmeÅ University, UmeÅ, Sweden

Lars Weinehall

Epidemiology and Public Health Sciences, Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, UmeÅ University, UmeÅ, Sweden

Stig Wall

Epidemiology and Public Health Sciences, Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, UmeÅ University, UmeÅ, Sweden

Background: There is an ongoing debate about the importance of biomedical and sociodemographic risk factors in the prediction of self-rated health. Objectives: To compare the association of sociodemographic and cardiovascular risk factors and self-rated health in Sweden and the US. Design: Data from two population-based cross-sectional health surveys, one in Sweden and one in the US. Subjects: The surveys included questionnaire and measured data from 5,461 adults in Sweden and 7,643 in the US. Participants were between 35 and 65 years of age. Results: The odds ratios for poor self-rated health for the included cardiovascular risk factors were greater in the US. Low education was significantly more prevalent among those with self-rated poor health in the US, but not in Sweden. Using Swedes with high education as reference group (OR=1), adults in the US with low education and 2+ risk factors had a greater than threefold risk (OR=6.3) of self-rated poor health compared with Swedish low-educated adults with the same risk factor burden (OR=1.9). The better-educated US adults with 2+ risk factors were significantly more likely to report poor health (OR=3.4) compared with their Swedish counterparts (OR=2.4). Conclusions: The interaction between risk factors, education, and self-rated health suggests a frightening picture, especially for the US. Public health interventions for reducing cardiovascular risk factors need to include both population and individual measures. Taking people's overall evaluation of their health into account when assessing total health risk is important.

Key Words: Cardiovascular disease • epidemiology • health surveys • risk factors • self-rated health

Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, Vol. 34, No. 2, 140-149 (2006)
DOI: 10.1080/14034940510032365


CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. Beckfield and N. Krieger Epi + demos + cracy: Linking Political Systems and Priorities to the Magnitude of Health Inequities--Evidence, Gaps, and a Research Agenda Epidemiol. Rev., June 9, 2009; (2009) mxp002v2. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]