The project is analyzing the association between health complaints as estimated by the Cornell Medical Index (CMI) and self perceived health. The project was originally begun to satisfy the requirements for a master's degree thesis that explored the responses in men over 55 years of age in a case-control study. Over the past year, analyses have been completed comparing men and women in the BLSA who have completed the CMI. The goal has been to explore what clinical symptoms and diseases contribute most to self-perceived health and what effect age has on this association. Both age and female sex resulted in increased numbers of positive responses on the CMI. A moderate degree of predictability was observed, with cardiovascular/hypertension questions being the best predictors of self perceived health for men at all ages, while for women musculoskeletal and gastrointestinal questions were predictive.
