Journal
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
Volume 11, Issue 1, Pages -Publisher
NATURE RESEARCH
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-85668-7
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- European Commission [200880]
- VELUX FOUNDATION [VELUX 26145, 31539]
- National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL)
- Finnish Centre for Pensions (ETK)
- Social Insurance Institution of Finland (KELA)
- Local Government Pensions Institution (KEVA)
- Signe and Ane Gyllenberg Foundation
- Academy of Finland funding for the Centre of Excellence in Research on Ageing and Care (CoEAgeCare)
- Competitive State Research Financing of the Expert Responsibility area of Tampere University Hospital
- City of Tampere
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Self-rated health (SRH) is commonly used in health and social research, showing robust associations with mortality and a solid biological basis. Biomarkers can be associated with SRH independently of diseases and physical functioning, potentially influencing subjective health assessments through various pathways.
Self-rated health (SRH) is one of the most frequently used indicators in health and social research. Its robust association with mortality in very different populations implies that it is a comprehensive measure of health status and may even reflect the condition of the human organism beyond clinical diagnoses. Yet the biological basis of SRH is poorly understood. We used data from three independent European population samples (N approx. 15,000) to investigate the associations of SRH with 150 biomolecules in blood or urine (biomarkers). Altogether 57 biomarkers representing different organ systems were associated with SRH. In almost half of the cases the association was independent of disease and physical functioning. Biomarkers weakened but did not remove the association between SRH and mortality. We propose three potential pathways through which biomarkers may be incorporated into an individual's subjective health assessment, including (1) their role in clinical diseases; (2) their association with health-related lifestyles; and (3) their potential to stimulate physical sensations through interoceptive mechanisms. Our findings indicate that SRH has a solid biological basis and it is a valid but non-specific indicator of the biological condition of the human organism.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available