Self-Rated Health and Health Service Utilization: A Systematic Review.

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Self-rated health (SRH) is a widely used predictor of health service utilization. In the international literature, no recent systematic review exists that helps synthesizes findings on the validity of using SRH to predict health service utilization. Therefore, this study systematically reviewed the published evidence on the association between SRH and health service utilization. METHODS: Literature was searched using MEDLINE and ProQuest up to September 2013 and supplemented by hand search of publication reference lists. Two key components were searched: self rated health and health service utilization. The eligibility criteria were: English or Chinese language, quantitative observational studies, pre-defined definition of SRH and health service utilization, derived from the general population, used single item measure of SRH, assessed the association between SRH and health service utilization, used health service utilization as outcome and SRH as independent variable, used multivariate analysis. Quality of included studies was determined using a 16-item checklist. A narrative synthesis was undertaken.