Elderly people who are confident that everything is fine with them are less likely than others to seek medical help. Because of
Sonja Spitzer of the Vienna Institute of DemographyUniversity and Mojahed Sheikh of the Hertie School in Berlin analyzed data on more than 80,000 people from Europe. Participants were 50 years of age or older. It turned out that the subjects who believed that they had more health problems than they really did visited doctors more often. On the contrary, those who were confident that they were healthy rarely sought help and could miss the symptoms of various diseases.
Thus, people who are overconfident in theirhealth, go to the doctor 17 percent less frequently than those who adequately assess the state of their body. And it plays an important role for the early detection of a variety of diseases.
At the same time, experts found that those who believe their health is worse than they actually are visit the doctor 21 percent more often.
In general, of all respondents, 79 percent of the participants correctly assessed the state of their health; they overestimated – 11 percent, underestimated – 10 percent.
News stories cannot be equated with a doctor's prescription. Before making a decision, consult a specialist.