Table 1

Prevalence and incidence of poor self reported health by sociodemographic and health related characteristics

	Men				Women
	Cross sectional study (n=8277)		Prospective study (n=5575)		Cross sectional study (n=3170)		Prospective study (n=2089)
	n	Prevalence of poor self reported health (%)	n	Incidence of poor self reported health (%)	n	Prevalence of poor self reported health (%)	n	Incidence of poor self reported health (%)
p<0.05, p<0.01, **p<0.001.
Self reported health
Good	6684		4892		2416		1752
Poor	1532	18.6	643	11.6	730	23.2	316	15.3
Number of chronic conditions
0	4756	12.8	3465	9.2	1954	18.0	1410	12.6
1	2495	22.0	1593	14.4	902	28.0	538	19.2
2 or more	1026	37.7	517	19.2	314	42.3	141	27.1
Age (y)		***		***		***		***
⩽44	–	–	–	–	286	23.0	194	13.1
45–49	1375	18.9	1010	11.4	1416	22.2	978	16.0
50–54	5547	19.3	3934	11.8	1136	24.2	750	15.6
⩾55	1355	15.9	631	11.2	332	24.2	167	12.1
Marital status		*		ns		ns		ns
Single	173	32.0	101	18.0	223	21.4	158	15.3
Married	7293	18.1	4966	11.4	2121	21.7	1408	15.3
Cohabiting	305	17.1	204	12.3	211	22.9	148	14.3
Separated	114	24.3	68	19.4	61	32.2	37	13.5
Divorced	309	24.8	187	11.2	424	28.3	263	14.9
Widowed	70	14.7	43	9.3	125	30.4	73	19.4
Number of stressful personal events		***		ns		**		ns
0	3366	17.0	2325	11.0	1366	19.1	933	14.0
1	3000	18.8	2016	12.5	1083	23.6	716	15.1
2	1361	21.1	869	10.6	527	28.7	328	18.2
⩾3	550	21.8	365	13.0	194	34.7	112	19.1
Smoking		**		ns		***		ns
Non-smokers	6609	18.1	4521	10.9	2627	22.4	1765	15.3
Smokers	1553	20.4	1013	14.6	480	27.0	293	15.2
Alcohol		*		***		*		ns
Abstainers	656	24.7	398	14.6	738	27.8	459	15.7
Light drinkers	4441	17.6	3064	11.3	1680	22.1	1124	15.0
Moderate drinkers	2037	18.3	1379	11.1	646	20.1	442	15.2
Heavy drinkers	1143	19.7	734	12.3	106	28.3	64	17.2
Overweight		***		ns		**		ns
No	5732	16.4	4012	10.2	2610	21.4	1782	14.6
Yes	2483	23.8	1550	15.4	524	31.8	294	19.1
		***		***		***		*