Obesity as a predictor of self-rated health.

Objective: To report on the relationship between self-rated health and obesity.

Methods: Computer-assisted telephone survey of 5001 randomly selected individuals aged 18 years and over residing in California and Texas.

Results: Obese individuals have a 3-fold greater odds of reporting reduced health. After controlling for the effect of demographic factors, health care utilization, chronic disease, and lifestyle behaviors, this relationship persists (OR:2.33; 95% CI: 1.7, 3.2).

Conclusion: Results suggest that obesity is a statistically significant predictor of reduced self-rated health. Directly affecting change in people's self-rating of health would be difficult; however, addressing its correlates, such as obesity, may improve self-rated health status over time.