The role of education in explaining trends in self-rated health in the United States, 1972–2018

Background: The percentage of older adults in the United States reporting being in good health has increased since the 1980s. Objective: This study tries to explain long-term trends in self-rated health in the United States. Methods: We used 47 years of repeated cross-sectional data from the National Health Interview Survey to estimate regression models that predict trends in self-rated health. Results: Our results show that the improvement in self-rated health of men as well as women aged 50–84 is largely explained by gains in educational attainment. Self-rated health has slightly improved among those with post-secondary education, while it did not improve among those without post-secondary education. Contribution: This study is one of the few to try to explain long-term trends in self-rated health. It does so for a much longer period of time than any previous study.