Disease or function? What matters most for self-rated health in older people depends on age.

Background: Self-rated health (SRH) holistically captures older adults' health status from the perspective of the individual. Aims: To explore the accuracy of five objective health indicators related to diseases, physical function, cognition and disability in discriminating SRH among the youngest and oldest old. Methods: We used baseline data from 2196 participants of the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care in Kungsholmen (SNAC-K), Sweden (years 2001–2004). Area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUROC) were obtained from logistic regressions adjusted by sex, age and education. Results: Among the youngest old, having ≥ 4 chronic diseases showed the highest discriminatory capacity of poor versus good SRH (AUROC: 0.714). Among the oldest old, a walking speed < 1.0 m/s showed the highest discriminatory capacity of poor versus good SRH (AUROC: 0.683), followed by ≥ 1 limitations in IADL (AUROC: 0.664). Conclusion: What matters most for SRH in older people depends on age, with walking speed playing a major role among the oldest old. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]