Subjective Health and Illness, Coping and Life Satisfaction in an 80-Year-Old Swedish Population - Implications for Mortality

Background: Multimorbidity and illness will become more common due to increased life expectancy.
Purpose: This study describes various combinations of diseases and symptoms and explores implications for survival in a sample of 80 year-olds followed up to 95 years of age. Furthermore, reported subjective health, coping, and life satisfaction is explored.
Method: 212 persons, born in 1908, were classified into four groups based on their number of diseases and reported symptoms according to a health examination at the age of 80. These groups were compared regarding standardized measurements of subjective health, depression, coping, life satisfaction, and mortality.
Results: The mortality risks, the hazard ratios, were of the same magnitude, 1.8-2.2, whether the persons experienced several symptoms, had several diseases, or a combination of several symptoms and several diseases when compared to the healthy group of respondents.
Conclusion: The experience of subjective signs of illness carries the same mortality risks as diseases.