In their analysis of the reliability of self-rated health among US adults (1), Drs. Zajacova and Dowd concluded that, " 1) [T]here is a substantial amount of error in individuals' self-assessment of health and 2) reliability is worse for disadvantaged sociodemographic groups, potentially biasing estimates of health inequalities" (1, p. 977). Although their study marks a relevant contribution to the understanding of this important and versatile variable, in my opinion, the use of the terms "error" and "reliability" might induce misunderstanding of some key aspects, mainly because both are concepts in the realm of objectiveness, whereas self-rated health is an inherently subjective variable that is more akin to perception than to svstematic, objective evaluation.
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