The impact of eliminating primary school tuition fees on child marriage in sub-Saharan Africa:A quasi-experimental evaluation of policy changes in 8 countries

BACKGROUND:Child marriage harms girls' health and hinders progress toward development goals. Randomized studies have shown that providing financial incentives for girls' education can effectively delay marriage, but larger-scale interventions are needed in light of slow progress toward curbing the practice. Many sub-Saharan African countries eliminated primary school tuition fees over the past two decades, resulting in massive increases in enrolment. We measured the effect of these policies on the probability of primary school completion and of marriage before 15 and 18 years of age. METHODS:We used Demographic and Health Surveys to assemble a dataset of women born between 1970 and 2000 in 16 countries. These data were merged with longitudinal information on the timing of tuition fee elimination in each country. We estimated the impact of fee removal using fixed effects regression to compare changes in the prevalence of child marriage over time between women who were exposed to tuition-free primary schooling and those who were not. RESULTS:The removal of tuition fees led to modest average declines in the prevalence of child marriage across all of the treated countries. However, there was substantial heterogeneity between countries. The prevalence of child marriage declined by 10-15 percentage points in Ethiopia and Rwanda following tuition elimination but we found no evidence that the removal of tuition fees had an impact on child marriage rates in Cameroon or Malawi. Reductions in child marriage were not consistently accompanied by increases in the probability of primary school completion. CONCLUSIONS:Eliminating tuition fees led to reductions in child marriage on a national scale in most countries despite challenges with implementation. Improving the quality of the education available may strengthen these effects and bolster progress toward numerous other public health goals

Development and validation of an instrument to measure health-related out-of-pocket costs : the cost for patients questionnaire

Objective: The growth of healthcare spending is a major concern for insurers and governments but also for patients whose health problems may result in costs going beyond direct medical costs. To develop a comprehensive tool to measure direct and indirect costs of a health condition for patients and their families to various outpatient contexts. Methods: We conducted a content and face validation including results of a systematic review to identify the items related to direct and indirect costs for patients or their families and an online Delphi to determine the cost items to retain. We conducted a pilot test-retest with 18 naive participants and analyzed data calculating intraclass correlation and kappa coefficients. Results: An initial list of 34 items was established from the systematic review. Each round of the Delphi panel incorporated feedback from the previous round until a strong consensus was achieved. After 4 rounds of the Delphi to reach consensus on items to be included and wording, the questionnaire had a total of 32 cost items. For the test-retest, kappa coefficients ranged from 20.11 to 1.00 (median = 0.86), and intraclass correlation ranged from 20.02 to 0.99 (median = 0.62). Conclusions: A rigorous process of content and face development was implemented for the Cost for Patients Questionnaire, and this study allowed to set a list of cost elements to be considered from the patient's perspective. Additional research including a test-retest with a larger sample will be part of a subsequent validation strategy

Medicaid's effect on single women's labor supply: Evidence from the introduction of Medicaid

This paper examines the impact of the introduction of the Medicaid program on labor supply decisions among single women in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I use a differences-in-differences-in-differences methodology to estimate the effect of Medicaid on eligible women's labor force participation, using variation in the timing of Medicaid implementation across states and in eligibility across demographic groups. Using March supplements to the CPS from 1963 to 1975, I find no evidence that women who were eligible for Medicaid decreased their labor supply relative to ineligible women, in contrast to clear theoretical predictions of a negative supply response. Positive point estimates suggest that health benefits from health insurance coverage may have contributed to relative increases in labor supply. These results add to an emerging consensus that public health insurance programs for low-income parents and children may be able to improve access to care without substantial indirect costs from labor supply distortions.Health insurance In-kind transfers Labor supply Great Society programs

Replication Data for: Primary Enforcement of Mandatory Seat Belt Laws and Motor Vehicle Crash Deaths

This dataset contains the raw data and code to reproduce the findings in the paper: Harper S, Strumpf EC. Primary Enforcement of Mandatory Seat Belt Laws and Motor Vehicle Crash Deaths. Am J Preventive Medicine 2017 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2017.02.00

Adherence to cancer screening guidelines across Canadian provinces: an observational study

Abstract Background Cancer screening guidelines reflect the costs and benefits of population-based screening based on evidence from clinical trials. While most of the existing literature on compliance with cancer screening guidelines only measures raw screening rates in the target age groups, we used a novel approach to estimate degree of guideline compliance across Canadian provinces for breast, colorectal and prostate cancer screening. Measuring compliance as the change in age-specific screening rates at the guideline-recommended initiation age (50), we generally found screening patterns across Canadian provinces that were not consistent with guideline compliance. Methods We calculated age-cancer-specific screening rates for ages 40-60 using the Canadian Community Health Survey (2003 and 2005), a cross-sectional, nationally representative survey of health status, health care utilization and health determinants in the Canadian population. We estimated the degree of compliance using logistic regression to measure the change in adjusted screening rates at the guideline-recommended initiation age for each province in the sample. Results For breast cancer, after adjusting for age trends and other covariates, being above age 50 in Quebec increased the probability of being screened by 19 percentage points, from an average screening rate of 24% among 40-49 year olds. None of the other regions exhibited a statistically significant change in screening rates at age 50. Additional analyses indicated that these patterns reflect asymptomatic screening and that Quebec's breast cancer screening program enhanced the degree of guideline compliance in that province. Colorectal cancer screening practice was consistent with guidelines only in Saskatchewan, as screening rates increased at age 50 by 12 percentage points, from an average rate of 6% among 40-49 year olds. For prostate cancer, the regions examined here are not compliant with Canadian guidelines since screening rates were quite high, and there was not a discrete increase at any particular age. Conclusions Screening practice for breast, colorectal and prostate cancer was generally not consistent with Canadian clinical guidelines. Quebec (breast) and Saskatchewan (colorectal) were exceptions to this, and the impact of Quebec's breast cancer screening program suggests a role for policy in improving screening guideline compliance.</p

Did the Great Recession affect mortality rates in the metropolitan United States? Effects on mortality by age, gender and cause of death

Objectives: Mortality rates generally decline during economic recessions in high-income countries, however gaps remain in our understanding of the underlying mechanisms. This study estimates the impacts of increases in unemployment rates on both all-cause and cause-specific mortality across U.S. metropolitan regions during the Great Recession. Methods: We estimate the effects of economic conditions during the recent and severe recessionary period on mortality, including differences by age and gender subgroups, using fixed effects regression models. We identify a plausibly causal effect by isolating the impacts of within-metropolitan area changes in unemployment rates and controlling for common temporal trends. We aggregated vital statistics, population, and unemployment data at the area-month-year-age-gender-race level, yielding 527,040 observations across 366 metropolitan areas, 2005-2010. Results: We estimate that a one percentage point increase in the metropolitan area unemployment rate was associated with a decrease in all-cause mortality of 3.95 deaths per 100,000 person years (95%CI -6.80 to -1.10), or 0.5%. Estimated reductions in cardiovascular disease mortality contributed 60% of the overall effect and were more pronounced among women. Motor vehicle accident mortality declined with unemployment increases, especially for men and those under age 65, as did legal intervention and homicide mortality, particularly for men and adults ages 25-64. We find suggestive evidence that increases in metropolitan area unemployment increased accidental drug poisoning deaths for both men and women ages 25-64. Conclusions: Our finding that all-cause mortality increased during the Great Recession is consistent with previous studies. Some categories of cause-specific mortality, notably cardiovascular disease, also follow this pattern, and are more pronounced for certain gender and age groups. Our study also suggests that the recent recession contributed to the growth in deaths from overdoses of prescription drugs in working-age adults in metropolitan areas. Additional research investigating the mechanisms underlying the health consequences of macroeconomic conditions is warranted

Measuring colorectal cancer incidence: the performance of an algorithm using administrative health data

Abstract Background Certain cancer case ascertainment methods used in Quebec and elsewhere are known to underestimate the burden of cancer, particularly for some subgroups. Algorithms using claims data are a low-cost option to improve the quality of cancer surveillance, but have not frequently been implemented at the population-level. Our objectives were to 1) develop a colorectal cancer (CRC) case ascertainment algorithm using population-level hospitalization and physician billing data, 2) validate the algorithm, and 3) describe the characteristics of cases. Methods We linked physician billing, hospitalization, and tumor registry data for 2,013,430 Montreal residents age 20+ (2000–2010). We compared the performance of three algorithms based on diagnosis and treatment codes from different data sources. We described identified cases according to age, sex, socioeconomic status, treatment patterns, site distribution, and time trends. All statistical tests were two-sided. Results Our algorithm based on diagnosis and treatment codes identified 11,476 of the 12,933 incident CRC cases contained in the tumor registry as well as 2317 newly-captured cases. Our cases share similar overall time trends and site distributions to existing data, which increases our confidence in the algorithm. Our algorithm captured proportionally 35% more individuals age 50 and younger among CRC cases: 8.2% vs. 5.3%. The newly captured cases were also more likely to be living in socioeconomically advantaged areas. Conclusions Our algorithm provides a more complete picture of population-wide CRC incidence than existing case ascertainment methods. It could be used to estimate long-term incidence trends, aid in timely surveillance, and to inform interventions, in both Quebec and other jurisdictions