The social and health variables associated with the self-perception of the health status of the adult population of Gran Canaria (Canary Islands)

Abstract

AIM: To find out how the adult population in one municipality of the Canary Islands perceives its state of health, and how this is related to social and health variables. DESIGN: Descriptive cross-sectional study. PLACE: Telde (Gran Canaria). SUBJECTS: The municipality has a population census of 79,000 inhabitants. The sample was multistepped and selected randomly. It included 2626 people with a population variance of p = q = 50%, standard error 4% with a confidence interval of 95.5%. Participation rate was of 82.5%. MEASUREMENT AND RESULTS: Data on aspects of socio-demography, morbidity, medication, use of public health facilities and lifestyles were collected via personal questionnaire. The relationship between different variables and people's perception of their health was calculated by odds ratio using logistic regression. Almost 50% of the sample perceived their state of health to be excellent or good. Subjects over the age of 45 (OR, 2.89), or who were unemployed, perceived themselves to be in a worse state of health (OR, 1.34). Contrastingly, those who had received higher education (OR, 0.39), or who, in the previous 15 days, had not been confined to bed (OR, 0.22), had not been on sick leave (OR, 0.23) or had not visited the doctor (OR, 0.38) had a better perception of their health. CONCLUSION: People's perception of their health is related to their quality of life and self-esteem and continues to be a useful indicator in the evaluation of their general state of health, reflecting aspects of both social level and health.

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