Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, Vol 53, Issue 1 S28-S34, Copyright © 1998 by The Gerontological Society of America
Can parental longevity and self-rated life expectancy predict mortality among older persons? Results from an Australian cohort
C van Doorn and SV Kasl
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520-8034, USA. [email protected]
This study examined the effects of parental longevity and self-rated life
expectancy on mortality, building upon the established model of self-rated
health predicting mortality. A community sample of Australians aged 70 and
over was surveyed in 1992 and 1995. The associations of interest were
examined separately by sex using weighted multiple logistic regression.
Parental ages at death were not associated with mortality for either men or
women. In multivariate models, self-rated life expectancy had an
independent effect on men's mortality and did not reduce the effect of
self-rated health on mortality. Our findings from Australia are consistent
with results from many countries; the effect of self-rated health on
mortality is stronger for men than for women. We also found that the effect
of self- rated life expectancy on mortality is stronger for men than for
women. The independent effects of self-rated health and self-rated life
expectancy indicate a need for a more detailed search for explanatory
mechanisms.
