Contemplate your symptoms and re-evaluate your health

• Bodily signals and how these are interpreted affect self-ratings of health. It is thus reasonable that appraisals of health are affected by imminent exposures and disease primes. We aimed to investigate whether self-ratings of health are affected by a symptom rating and if changes are substantiated in persons who report more symptoms. We used data from 813 persons who completed a questionnaire daily for 21 consecutive days. The questionnaire included a one-item self-rating of health (“pre-SRH”; 1 = excellent, 7 = very poor), a subsequent 26-item rating of physical and mental symptoms and thereafter a second (identical) self-rating of health (“post-SRH”). Paired t-tests were used to test for differences between pre-SRH and post-SRH. Mixed effect regression models were used to calculate the interaction effect of pre-SRH and symptom score on post-SRH adjusted for gender, age and if the person had been working that day (13545 observations). SRH worsened significantly (p  <<.0001) after the symptom rating, from 2.72 pre-SRH (95%CI:−2.70–2.74) to 2.77 post-SRH (95%CI:2.75–2.79). There was a significant interaction between pre-SRH and symptoms on post-SRH so that persons who reported more symptoms changed their post-SRH rating to a higher degree than those who reported fewer symptoms, irrespective of their subjective health status. The results support the notion that subjective health perception is affected by focus of attention, and that the effect depends on level of symptoms.

Ämnesord

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Psykiatri (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Psychiatry (hsv//eng)

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Neurologi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Neurology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

folkhälsovetenskap

Public Health Sciences

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