NSW Public Health Bulletin Vol. 15 No. 5–6112

This is the second of a series of quarterly reports on the surveillance of the health status, health behaviours, and risk factors of the people of NSW, which will be produced from the Continuous NSW Health Survey. The first quarterly report covered the period March to December 2002. Ten indicators have been selected for inclusion in the quarterly report. These have been chosen either because they are of ongoing interest or because seasonal variation is possible (Figure 1). The Continuous NSW Health Survey is conducted by the Centre for Epidemiology and Research, through the Department of Health’s computer-assisted telephone interviewing facility. The data described in this report are based on the respondents described in Table 1. Although prevalence estimates only are shown in the graphs, 95 per cent confidence intervals have been calculated and these are available on request from the NSW Health Survey Program. SELF-RATED HEALTH Self-rated health is believed to principally reflect physical problems and, to a lesser extent, health behaviours and mental health problems. Longitudinal studies have shown that self-rated health is a strong and independent predictor of subsequent illness and premature death.1 In 2003, 80.8 per cent of NSW residents aged 16 years and over reported their health as being either ‘excellent’, ‘very good’, or ‘good’. There was no significant difference in self-rated health between males (81.9 per cent) and female (79.8 per cent)