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NOTES

INTRODUCTION

This article presents a brief overview of how Australians assess their own health status. Factors examined in relation to self-assessed health include age, sex, socioeconomic status, health conditions, weight, exercise, alcohol consumption and smoking.


DATA SOURCES

Unless otherwise stated, this article uses data from the 2004-05 ABS National Health Survey (NHS). This article also draws on information from the 2006 General Social Survey, the 2004-05 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey and 2003 Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers.

The NHS question used to determine self-assessed health status was, "In general, would you say your health is: Excellent, Very good, Good, Fair or Poor?". Data for this question was collected for all those aged 15 years and over, but data for persons aged 15-17 years may have been reported by an adult within the household, usually a parent.


INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or email
client.services@abs.gov.au.


SELF-ASSESSED RATINGS OF HEALTH

Self-assessed health is a commonly used measure of health status. While it may not always be equivalent to health status as measured by a medical professional, it does reveal something about a person's perception of his or her own health at a given point in time. Analysis of self-assessed health status may provide insights into how people perceive their own health in relation to being overweight or obese, high risk drinkers, smokers or having a sedentary lifestyle. Research has also shown that self-assessed health is a predictor of mortality and morbidity (Gerdtham et al 1999; McCallum et al, 1994).

• In 2004-05, 56% of Australians aged 15 and over rated their health as very good or excellent and 16% as fair or poor.
• Around 21% of people reported excellent health, 35% very good health, 28% good health, 11% fair health, and 4% reported poor health.
• After taking into account age differences in the population over time (footnote 1), Australians assessed their health in a similar way in 2004-05 as in previous survey years.

• With increasing age, self-assessed ratings of very good or excellent health steadily decrease and ratings of fair or poor health increase. This is consistent with the rise in the number of health conditions experienced with increasing age (ABS 2006a).
• In 2004-05, 70% of people aged 15-24 years reported very good or excellent health compared with 31% of those aged 75 years and over (ABS 2006a).
• Correspondingly, 7% of people aged 15-24 years reported fair or poor health compared with 35% of those aged 75 years and over (ABS 2006a).

• In 2004-05, women were slightly more likely to report very good or excellent health (58%) than were men (55%) (ABS 2006a).
• Women reported better health than men across most age groups, with the most pronounced difference occurring in people aged 35-44 years where 66% of women compared with 57% of men reported very good or excellent health (ABS 2006a).

• In 2004-05, 43% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians aged 15 years and over assessed their health as very good or excellent and 22% as fair or poor (ABS 2006d).
• After taking into account age differences between the populations, Indigenous people were almost twice as likely as non-Indigenous people to report fair or poor health (ABS 2006d).

• In 2004-05, 18% of Australians aged 15 years and over who reported a long-term health condition also reported fair or poor health compared with 4% of people with no long-term condition (footnote 2) (ABS 2006a).
• Among those aged 15 years and over, fair or poor health was reported by 48% of people with diabetes, 34% of people with arthritis, 29% of people with cancer, 26% of people with heart and circulatory conditions and 20% of people with asthma (ABS 2006a).
• Very good or excellent health was reported by 50% of people with asthma, 43% of people with cancer or heart and circulatory problems, 35% of people with arthritis and 21% of people with diabetes (ABS 2006a).
• Differences in self-assessed health may be due in part to the varying age-structure of the population with each condition (footnote 3).

• According to the 2003 ABS Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers, 38% of people with a disability assessed their health as fair or poor, which was almost three times the proportion of people without a disability (13%) (ABS 2004a).
• Fair or poor health was reported by 67% of people with a profound core activity limitation and 56% of those with a severe core activity limitation (ABS 2004a) (footnote 4).

• According to the 2006 ABS General Social Survey, 65% of people who had undertaken unpaid voluntary work in the past 12 months reported very good or excellent health compared with 54% of people who had not undertaken voluntary work (ABS 2007).
• In addition, 70% of people who were actively involved in a sporting or physical recreational group and 61% of people who were involved in another type of community group (such as an arts, heritage or religious group) reported very good or excellent health compared with 52% of people who did not actively participate in any community group (footnote 5) (ABS 2007).

• In 2004-05, the proportion of people aged 15 years and over who reported very good or excellent health increased with higher levels of socioeconomic status - from 47% of people in the most disadvantaged areas (those in the lowest quintile of the index of socioeconomic disadvantage) to 64% of people in the least disadvantaged areas (those in the highest quintile of the index of socioeconomic disadvantage) (ABS 2006a) (footnote 6).
• Correspondingly, 22% of people living in the most disadvantaged areas reported fair or poor health compared with 10% of those in the least disadvantaged areas.

• In 2004-05, a higher proportion of people with post-school qualifications reported very good or excellent health (59%) than did people with no post-school qualification (50%) (ABS 2006a).
• Correspondingly, 12% of people with a post-school qualification reported fair or poor health compared with 21% of those with no post school qualification (ABS 2006a).
• People with a diploma, bachelor's degree or above reported a higher rate of very good or excellent health (65%) than did people with a vocational certificate (52%) (ABS 2006a).
• Correspondingly, 9% of people with a diploma, bachelor's degree or above reported fair or poor health compared with 17% of people with a vocational certificate (ABS 2006a).

• People who are employed generally report higher levels of self-assessed health than do people who are unemployed or not in the labour force (ABS 2006a).
• In 2004-05, 64% of people who were employed, 53% of people who were unemployed and 47% of those not in the labour force reported very good or excellent health (ABS 2006a).
• Of employed people, 9% reported fair or poor health compared with 15% of unemployed people (ABS 2006a).
• Of people not in the labour force, 30% overall and 27% of those of working age (15-64 years) reported fair or poor health (ABS 2006a).
• Among the major occupation groups, labourers and related workers had the lowest proportion of self-assessed very good or excellent health (57%) and highest proportion of fair or poor health (13%) (ABS 2006a).
• Professionals had the highest proportion of self-assessed very good or excellent health (72%) among the major occupation groups (ABS 2006a).

• In 2004-05, among people aged 15 years and over and who were classified as overweight/obese, 50% reported their health as very good or excellent, 31% as good and 19% as fair or poor (footnote 7) (ABS 2006a).
• Of people classified in the normal weight range, 64% rated their health as very good or excellent compared with 57% of those classified as underweight, 55% of those classified as overweight and 40% of those classified as obese (ABS 2006a).
• Correspondingly, 12% of people classified in the normal weight range rated their health as fair or poor compared with 18% of those classified as underweight, 16% of those classified as overweight and 25% of those classified as obese (ABS 2006a).

• In 2004-05, of people 15 years and over classified as either having a low level of exercise or being sedentary, 51% reported very good or excellent health, 30% reported good health and 19% reported fair or poor health (ABS 2006a).
• Further, 78% of people classified as having a high level of exercise reported very good or excellent health compared with 64% of people with a moderate level of exercise, 58% of those with a low level of exercise and 45% of people classified as sedentary (footnote 8) (ABS 2006a).
• Correspondingly, 5% of people classified as having a high level of exercise reported fair or poor health compared with 11% of people with a moderate level of exercise, 14% of those with a low level of exercise and 24% of people classified as sedentary (ABS 2006a).

• In 2004-05, 19% of people aged 18 years and over classified as drinking alcohol at high risk levels reported fair or poor health compared with 13% of people who drank at low risk levels (footnote 9) (ABS 2006a).
• Of those aged 18 years and over, 21% of daily smokers reported fair or poor health compared with 10% of people who smoked less frequently, 19% of ex-smokers and 13% of those who had never smoked (footnote 10) (ABS 2006a).