Health and mortality: a longitudinal analysis of the ECHP Data

Viviana Egidi, Università di Roma "La Sapienza"
Daniele Spizzichino, Università di Roma "La Sapienza"

Individual health status is influenced by different factors, interactions between physical and psychological aspects and between objective and subjective health are strong, particularly at older ages (Kaplan et Al., 1988). A previous study carried out on Italian data show that self-perceived health is the strongest indicator of elderly survival, also after controlling by gender, age and objective health. Who rate their health as “poor” have a higher risk of dying compared with people who feel “good”. The aim of this study is to evaluate the role played by other relevant factors such as socio-economic conditions of the family (poverty, housing discomfort) and the employment history of the individual on his survival, also checking how the change in health status and socio-economic condition can impact on mortality. Moreover, other European countries will be taken into account. The data source is the European Community Household Panel, a longitudinal survey carried out in 14 European countries from 1994 to 2001.