Studies from the public health and epidemiologic fields consider self-assessment of health as a solid measure of general health due to its predictive ability in relation to mortality. Empirical evidence in this direction have justified the generalized use of this measure in health surveys as well as its application to the general population. However, it is important to evaluate whether these findings can be extended to different populations and contexts. Some studies have confirmed the existence of the same effect in some less developed countries but they are far from being exhaustive and it is still necessary to explore the possible cultural differences existing in diverse populations residing in a certain context. This study precisely contributes to fill this gap by exploring comparatively two specific aspects of self-assessment of health in both Spaniards and immigrants residing in Spain. On the one hand, the present research addresses a measurement aspect linked to the scale used to answer the question about self-assessment health, that is, the comparability of the answer as function of migratory status. On the other hand, this study evaluates the impact and composition of the morbidities associated to a poor self-assessment health. The data used for this study comes from the 2005 General Heath Care survey for the city of Madrid. © 2012: Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Murcia.

immigrants Self-reported health Surveys Morbidities Self-assessment health

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