What about healthy participants? The improvement and deterioration of self-reported health at a 10-year follow-up of the Västerbotten Intervention Programme

Figures & data

Table 1. Descriptive characteristics of the cross-sectional and panel samples

Sample characteristics	Cross-sectional sample (N=101,396)	Panel sample baseline (N=25,695)	Panel sample follow-up (N=25,695)
Sex
Men	48.2% (48,917)	46.7% (11,997)	46.7% (11,997)
Women	51.8% (52,479)	53.3% (13,698)	53.3% (13,698)
Age (years)
30	–	19.4% (4,992)	–
40	33.9% (34,392)	40.4% (10,375)	19.4% (4,992)
50	35.7% (36,205)	40.2% (10,328)	40.4% (10,375)
60	30.4% (30,799)	–	40.2% (10,328)
Marital status
Married/cohabiting	81.3% (82,440)	84.2% (21,629)	82,4% (21,184)
Single	18.7% (18,956)	15.8% (4,066)	17.6% (4,511)
Education
High	25.0% (25,359)	21.2% (5,436)	19.9% (5,113)
Mid-level	49.1% (49,766)	54.8% (14,071)	52.9% (13,582)
Basic	25.9% (26,271)	24.1% (6,188)	27.2% (7,000)
Self-reported health
Good	71.3% (72,256)	78.4% (20,145)	71.2% (18,303)
Fair	21.6% (21,929)	16.8% (4,325)	21.6% (5,549)
Poor	7.1% (7,211)	4.8% (1,225)	7.2% (1,843)

Table 2. Distribution of good, fair and poor self-reported health in the cross-sectional sample (N=101,396) during 1990–2007

	Self-reported health (%)
Sample characteristics	Good	Fair	Poor
Sex*
Men	73.5	20.8	5.7
Women	69.2	22.4	8.4
Age* (year)
40	75.0	18.8	6.2
50	72.7	20.2	7.1
60	65.4	26.5	8.1
Marital status*
Married/cohabiting	72.7	20.7	6.6
Single	64.9	25.9	9.2
Education*
High	75.7	17.9	6.5
Mid-level	71.9	21.2	6.9
Basic	65.5	26.4	8.1

*Significant difference between the groups (p<0.05)

Fig. 1.  Self-reported health in men and women by educational level, Västerbotten County, 1990–2007 (the cross-sectional sample N=101,396). The figure is adjusted for age and marital status.

Table 3. Change in the self-reported health at 10-year follow-up, stratified by self-reported health at baseline (the panel sample N=25,695)*

	Self-reported health at 10-year follow-up,% (n)
Self-reported health at baseline	Remained	Deteriorated	Improved
Good	79.0% (15,909)	21.0% (4,236)	–
Fair	39.5% (1,706)	13.6% (590)	46.9% (2,029)
Poor	29.1% (356)	–	70.9% (869)

*Significance p< 0.05

Table 4. Deterioration of self-reported health at 10-year follow-up by sample characteristics (the panel sample N=25,695)

Baseline characteristics	Prevalence of deteriorated self-reported health,% (n)
Sex *
Men	16.7% (2,002)
Women	20.6% (2,824)
Age * (years)
30	18.2% (908)
40	17.8% (1,845)
50	20.1% (2,073)
Marital status
Married/cohabiting	18.7% (4,048)
Single	19.1% (778)
Education *
High	17.2% (1,064)
Mid-level	18.5% (2,596)
Basic	21.5% (1,166)

*Significant difference between the groups (p< 0.05)

Fig. 2.  Deteriorated self-reported health at 10-year follow-up (the panel sample N=25,695). This figure is stratified by follow-up sex, age and change in marital status and is adjusted by educational level at follow-up.