Inequity in healthcare use among older people after 2008: The case of Southern European Countries

Despite the sizeable cuts in public healthcare spending, part of the austerity measures recently undertaken in Southern European countries, little attention has been devoted to monitoring distributional aspects of healthcare usage. This study aims at measuring socioeconomic inequities in primary and secondary healthcare experienced some time after the crisis onset in Italy, Spain and Portugal. The analysis, based on data drawn from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), focuses on older people, who generally face significantly higher healthcare needs, and whose health appeared to have worsened in the aftermath of the crisis. The Horizontal Inequity indexes reveal remarkable socioeconomic inequities in older people’s access to secondary healthcare in all three countries. In Portugal, the one country facing most severe healthcare budget cuts and where user charges apply also to GP visits, even access to primary care exhibits a significant pro-rich concentration. If reducing inequities in older people’s access to healthcare remains a policy objective, austerity measures maybe pulling the Olive belt countries further way from achieving it

Mortality from colorectal cancer in Andalusia: findings in favor of mass screening Mortalidad por cáncer colorrectal en Andalucía: aportaciones al cribado poblacional

Objective: to describe mortality from colorectal cancer (CRC) in Andalusia from 1975 to 2001 in order to facilitate decision-making on mass screening. Design: a population-based descriptive study. Considering mortality data from CRC and the resident population of Andalusia during the studied period, the main indicators of mortality by age and sex groups were calculated, and trends were estimated. Results: there have been annual increases in mortality of 1.99% in men and 0.15% in women during the study period. In men, this is mainly due to increased mortality in those older than 65 years, and in women in those in the 35- to 64-year-old age group. In the younger age groups of both sexes, there has been a decline in mortality. The trend of mortality from colon cancer was positive in both men and women, but from rectal cancer was negative in women and slightly positive in men. Conclusions: increased mortality from CRC in Andalusia may justify mass screening measures to potentially change mortality evolution, as has occurred in other countries.Objetivo: describir la mortalidad por cáncer colorrectal (CCR) en Andalucía desde 1975 a 2001 para ayudar a la toma de decisiones sobre el cribado poblacional. Diseño: estudio descriptivo de base poblacional. Con los datos de mortalidad por CCR y la población de residentes en Andalucía durante el periodo estudiado, se han calculado los principales indicadores de mortalidad por grupos de edad y sexos y se han estimado las tendencias. Resultados: se ha producido un aumento de 1,99% anual de la mortalidad en los hombres y un 0,15% en las mujeres en el periodo de estudio. En los hombres debido principalmente al incremento de la mortalidad en los mayores de 65 años y en las mujeres en el grupo de edad de 35 a 64 años fue el que más creció, en los grupos de edad jóvenes se ha producido un descenso de la mortalidad en ambos sexos. Las tendencias de la mortalidad por cáncer de colon fueron positivas en hombres y mujeres y la de recto negativas para las mujeres y ligeramente positiva para los hombres. Conclusiones: el incremento de la mortalidad por CCR en Andalucía podría plantear mediadas de cribado poblacional que, como ha ocurrido en otros países, cambien el signo de la evolución de la mortalidad