The Transition from Good to Poor Health: An Econometric Study of the Older Population

This is a study of the influence of socioeconomic factors on the state of health of older Canadians. Three years of panel data from the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics are used to model the transition probabilities between good and poor health. Care is taken to avoid the problem of endogeneity of income in modelling its effects, and to adjust reported income to free it from its strong association with age at the time of the survey. Of particular note are the significant effects found for income, in spite of universal public health care coverage. Significant effects are found also for age, education, and other variables.Socioeconomic factors and health; older population; panel data

The Transition from Good to Poor Health: An Econometric Study of the Older Population

This is a study of the influence of socioeconomic factors on the state of health of older Canadians. Three years of panel data from the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics are used to model the transition probabilities between good and poor health. Care is taken to avoid the problem of endogeneity of income in modelling its effects, and to adjust reported income to free it from its strong association with age at the time of the survey. Of particular note are the significant effects found for income, in spite of universal public health care coverage. Significant effects are found also for age, education, and other variables.Socio-economic factors and health; older population; panel data; SLID

Healthy Aging at Older Ages: Are Income and Education Important?

Being higher on the socioeconomic scale is correlated with being in better health, but is there is a causal relationship? Using three years of longitudinal data for individuals aged 50 and older from the Canadian Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics, we study the health transitions for those who were in good health in the first year, focussing especially on income and education. The initial good health restriction removes from the sample those whose incomes may have been affected by a previous history of poor health, thus avoiding a well known problem of econometric endogeneity. We then ask, for those in good health, whether later transitions in health status are related to socioeconomic status. We find that they are that changes in health status over the subsequent two years are related in particular to income and education.aging, health, income, education

Socioeconomic Influence on the Health of Older People: Estimates Based on Two Longitudinal Surveys

There is a strong positive relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and health, but identifying the direction of causation is difficult. This study exploits the longitudinal nature of two Canadian surveys, the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics and the National Population Health Survey, to study the link from SES to health. For people aged 50 and older who are initially in good health we examine whether changes in health status over the next two to four years are related to prior SES, as represented by income and education. Although the two surveys were designed for quite different purposes the evidence they yield with respect to the probability of remaining in good health is strikingly similar. Both suggest that SES does play a role, that the differences across SES groups are quantitatively significant, that the differences increase with age, and that they are much same for men and women.health; socioeconomic status; SLID; NPHS

Socioeconomic Influence on the Health of Older People: Estimates Based on Two Longitudinal Surveys

There is a strong positive relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and health, but identifying the direction of causation is difficult. This study exploits the longitudinal nature of two Canadian surveys, the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics and the National Population Health Survey, to study the link from SES to health. For people aged 50 and older who are initially in good health we examine whether changes in health status over the next two to four years are related to prior SES, as represented by income and education. Although the two surveys were designed for quite different purposes the evidence they yield with respect to the probability of remaining in good health is strikingly similar. Both suggest that SES does play a role, that the differences across SES groups are quantitatively significant, that the differences increase with age, and that they are much same for men and women.health; socioeconomic status; SLID; NPHS

Socioeconomic Influences on the Health of Older Canadians: Estimates Based on Two Longitudinal Surveys

It is well established that there is a positive statistical relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and health but identifying the direction of causation is difficult. This study exploits the longitudinal nature of two Canadian surveys, the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics and the National Population Health Survey, to study the link from SES to health (as distinguished from the health-to-SES link). For people aged 50 and older who are initially in good health we examine whether changes in health status over the next two to four years are related to prior SES, as represented by income and education. Although the two surveys were designed for different purposes and had different questions for income and health, the evidence they yield with respect to the probability of remaining in good health is similar. Both suggest that SES does play a role and that the differences across SES groups are quantitatively significant, increase with age, and are much the same for men and women.health transitions, income, education

Healthy Aging at Older Ages: Are Income and Education Important?

Being higher on the socioeconomic scale is correlated with being in better health, but is there is a causal relationship? Using three years of longitudinal data for individuals aged 50 and older from the Canadian Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics, we study the health transitions for those who were in good health in the first year, focussing especially on income and education. The initial good health restriction removes from the sample those whose incomes may have been affected by a previous history of poor health, thus avoiding a well known problem of econometric endogeneity. We then ask, for those in good health, whether later transitions in health status are related to socioeconomic status. We find that they are -- that changes in health status over the subsequent two years are related in particular to income and education.aging, health, income, education

Optical studies of two LMC X-ray transients : RX J0544.1-7100 and RX J0520.5-6932

We report observations which confirm the identities of the optical counterpart to the transient sources RX J0544.1-7100 and RX J0520.5-6932. The counterparts are suggested to be a B-type stars. Optical data from the observations carried out at ESO and SAAO, together with results from the OGLE data base, are presented. In addition, X-ray data from the RXTE all-sky monitor are investigated for long term periodicities. A strong suggestion for a binary period of 24.4d is seen in RX J0520.5-6932 from the OGLE data.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figure

Using gamma+jets Production to Calibrate the Standard Model Z(nunu)+jets Background to New Physics Processes at the LHC

The irreducible background from Z(nunu)+jets, to beyond the Standard Model searches at the LHC, can be calibrated using gamma+jets data. The method utilises the fact that at high vector boson pT, the event kinematics are the same for the two processes and the cross sections differ mainly due to the boson-quark couplings. The method relies on a precise prediction from theory of the Z/gamma cross section ratio at high pT, which should be insensitive to effects from full event simulation. We study the Z/gamma ratio for final states involving 1, 2 and 3 hadronic jets, using both the leading-order parton shower Monte Carlo program Pythia8 and a leading-order matrix element program Gambos. This enables us both to understand the underlying parton dynamics in both processes, and to quantify the theoretical systematic uncertainties in the ratio predictions. Using a typical set of experimental cuts, we estimate the net theoretical uncertainty in the ratio to be of order 7%, when obtained from a Monte Carlo program using multiparton matrix-elements for the hard process. Uncertainties associated with full event simulation are found to be small. The results indicate that an overall accuracy of the method, excluding statistical errors, of order 10% should be possible.Comment: 22 pages, 14 figures; Accepted for publication by JHE