Determinants of first prescription of hormone replacement therapy. A follow-up study among 1689 women aged 45-60 years

The aim of the present study was to ascertain the cumulative incidence of first hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and the factors that predict its prescription. In a general population 1689 women were followed for 9 months in order to trace first HRT prescriptions. Determinants (well-being, attitude towards menopause, menopausal status and another 9 variables) were measured by means of a questionnaire. Data analyses were performed for all women and for women with or without typical climacteric complaints. The cumulative 9 month incidence of HRT was 6.2%. For women without typical complaints a lower level of well-being (odds ratio 5.5; 95% Cl 1.9–15.5) and the former use of the contraceptive pill (odds ratio 4.6; 95% CI 1.0–20.5) were independently associated with HRT prescription. For women with typical complaints a positive attitude towards ‘menopause should be treated' (odds ratio 3.8; 95% Cl 1.8–8.0) was a determinant of HRT prescription. The cumulative incidence of HRT prescription is high, but from additional data it is apparent that within a period of 1 year and 9 months the majority of women stop taking HRT. For women without typical complaints, physicians prescribe HRT five times more often to those with a lower level of well-being. For women with typical complaints the physician's prescription is primarily related to the woman's attitude towards (medical) treatment of the menopause

Vasomotor symptoms and well-being in the climacteric years

Objectives: To determine more closely the relationship between vasomotor symptoms, well-being and climacteric status according to the last menstrual bleeding and according to the women themselves. Methods: A population-based cross-sectional study was executed using a postal questionnaire. Well-being of women with and without vasomotor symptoms was compared, for the different menopausal statuses. All 2729 women living in a commuter suburb of Rotterdam aged 45-60 years were approached of whom 1947 (71.3%) responded. Well-being was measured by the Inventory of Subjective Health (ISH) and three subscales of the Sickness Impact Profile (SIP). Results: The results showed that the relationship between vasomotor symptoms and well-being was dependent on climacteric status. Pre- and (middle and late) postmenopausal women with vasomotor symptoms more often experienced a relatively lower level of well- being compared to women without these symptoms. However, when the prevalence of vasomotor symptoms is as its peak, i.e. in late perimenopause, a difference in the level of well-being between women with and without vasomotor symptoms was absent. Conclusions: It is concluded that well-being and vasomotor symptoms were inversely related in all menopausal statuses except for the (late) perimenopausal phase. For this no somatic explanation seems plausible. A more social scientific explanation is suggested

Duration of hormonal replacement therapy in general practice; a follow- up study

Objectives: To assess the mean duration of use of HRT in general practice and to identify determinants of the duration of HRT use. Methods: A general population of 1689 women aged 45-60 years and enlisted in five group practices of general practitioners were followed for 9 months to trace first HRT prescriptions. All 103 women who were prescribed HRT were followed for a period of 2.25 years. Duration of HRT was assessed by using the data provided on the dispensing of HRT. Possible determinants of duration of use, such as attitude towards menopause, menopausal status and another six variables were measured by means of a questionnaire. Results: None of the 103 women received HRT for a preventive purpose; the main indication was menopausal complaints. More than 60% of the women stopped their HRT within 6 months and only 8% of the women remained on HRT for more than 2 years. The mean duration of use was 7 months. Determinants that significantly predicted the duration of HRT use were age, attitude towards treatment of the menopause and the group practice. Conclusions: The mean duration of HRT use is very short, despite the fact that the most prevalent indication is the alleviation of menopausal symptoms. Apparently, Dutch women are presently unwilling to take HRT for longer periods

Conceptualizing and measuring distance in international business research:Recurring questions and best practice guidelines

Distance is a central concept in international business research, yet there is debate about the construct as well as its operationalization. In this editorial, we address three of the most important recurring questions posed by authors, editors, and reviewers by examining the theory, methods, and data of distance research. We discuss (1) how to theorize on distance, and (2) what method and (3) what data to use when constructing a distance index. We develop practical recommendations grounded in theory, illustrating and supporting them by calculating cross-country distance indices for all available country pairs and two of the most used distance indices: cultural and institutional. We show that, whereas a specific method to calculate distance may matter to some extent, the choice for a specific cultural or institutional framework to measure cultural or institutional distance has a major impact on country-pair distances. Overall, this editorial highlights the importance of matching data and method to the theoretical argument.</p

Fighting Capital Flight in Africa: Evidence from Bundling and Unbundling Governance

This study investigates the effect of governance on capital flight by bundling and unbundling governance. The empirical evidence is based on 37 African countries for the period 1996–2010 and the Generalised Method of Moments. Governance is bundled by principal component analysis, namely: (i) political governance from political stability and ‘voice and accountability’; (ii) economic governance from government effectiveness and regulation quality and (iii) institutional governance from corruption-control and the rule of law. The following findings are established. (i) Political stability and ‘voice and accountability’ reduce capital flight while the collective effect of political governance is not significant. (ii) Economic governance increases capital flight whereas the individual effects of regulation quality and government effectiveness are not significant. (iii) Corruption-control and institutional governance negatively affect capital flight whereas the impact of the rule of law is not significant. (iv) Taken together, Corruption-control is the most effective governance weapon in the fight against capital flight. (v) Priority in the Washington Consensus is more effective at fighting capital flight compared to the Beijing Model. Policy implications are discussed

Comparative Analysis of American and Spanish Cruise Passenger's Behavioral Intentions

[EN] Earlier studies of cross-national differences in consumer behavior in different consumption sectors have verified that cultural differences have a strong influence on consumers. Despite the importance of cross-national analysis, no studies in the literature examine the moderating effects of nationality on the construction of behavioral intentions and their antecedents among cruise line passengers. This study investigates the moderating effects of nationality on the relationships between perceived value, satisfaction, trust and behavioral intentions among Spanish and (U.S.) American passengers of cruise lines that use Barcelona as home port and port-of-call. A theoretical model was tested with a total of 968 surveys. Structural equation models (SEMs) were used, by means of a multigroup analysis. Results of this study indicated that Spaniards showed stronger relationships between trust and behavioral intentions, and between emotional value and satisfaction. Americans presented stronger relations.[PT] Estudos em distintos setores de consumo verificaram que as diferenças culturais têm uma forte influência sobre os consumidores. Apesar da importância da análise transnacional, não há estudos na literatura que examinem os efeitos da nacionalidade na construção das intenções de comportamento e seus antecedentes entre os passageiros de cruzeiros. Esta pesquisa investiga os efeitos moderadores da nacionalidade nas relações entre valor percebido, satisfação, confiança e intenções de comportamento entre passageiros espanhóis e norte-americanos. Realizaram-se 968 enquetes para provar o modelo teórico, que foi analisado com modelos de equações estruturais, mediante uma análise multigrupo. Os resultados indicam que os espanhóis mostraram relações mais fortes entre confiança e intenções de comportamento, e entre valor emocional e satisfação. Ao contrário dos norte-americanos, que apresentaram relações mais fortes entre qualidade de serviço e satisfação, e entre qualidade de serviço e intenções de comportamento.[ES] Algunos estudios anteriores de diferencias observadas entre países respecto de las conductas de los consumidores de diferentes sectores de consumo verificaron que las diferencias culturales ejercen una poderosa influencia sobre los consumidores. A pesar de la importancia de los análisis transnacionales, no hay en la literatura estudios que analicen los efectos moderadores de la nacionalidad sobre la construcción de intenciones de conducta y sus antecedentes entre pasajeros de cruceros. Este estudio investiga los efectos moderadores de la nacionalidad sobre las relaciones entre el valor percibido, la satisfacción, la confianza y las intenciones de conducta entre los pasajeros españoles y norteamericanos (EE. UU.) de cruceros, que utilizan a Barcelona como puerto de origen y puerto de escala. Se probó un modelo teórico con un total de 968 encuestas. Se emplearon modelos de ecuaciones estructurales (SEM por su sigla en inglés), a través de un análisis multigrupo. Los resultados de este estudio indicaron que los españoles mostraron relaciones más sólidas entre la confianza y las intenciones de comportamiento y entre el valor emocional y la satisfacción. Los americanos evidenciaron relaciones más sólidas entre la calidad del servicio y la satisfacción y entre la calidad del servicio y las intenciones de conducta.Forgas-Coll, S.; Palau-Saumell, R.; Sanchez-Garcia, J.; Garrigós Simón, FJ. (2016). Comparative Analysis of American and Spanish Cruise Passenger's Behavioral Intentions. RAE-Revista de Administração de Empresas. 56(1):87-100. doi:10.1590/S0034-759020160108S8710056

Ex-post Performance Implications of Divergence of Managers’ Perceptions of ‘Distance’ From ‘Reality’ in International Business

Despite much research on “distance”, little attention has been paid to the effect of divergence of managers’ perceptions of distance from reality (i.e. distance divergence) and its implications for firm performance. This knowledge is highly important since managerial perceptions of the firm’s environment do not always coincide with the actual environmental characteristics. Consequently, strategies based on inaccurate data may result in erroneous forecasts, missed opportunities and business failure. Using survey data from senior managers of Swedish exporters and corresponding objective data, this study is a first attempt to explore the ex-post performance implications of “distance divergence” when expanding into foreign markets. Our results demonstrate that the larger the divergence between managers’ perceptions of cultural distance and corresponding “objective” distance, the lower the performance expressed in companies’ sales. However, over/underestimation of cultural distance does not have differential effects on firm performance.“Stiftelsen Olle Hakelius Stipendiefond”, Grant no: 1165001

A Development Consensus reconciling the Beijing Model and Washington Consensus: Views and Agenda

Reconciling the two dominant development models of the Washington Consensus (WC) and Beijing Model (BM) remains a critical challenge in the literature. The challenge is even more demanding when emerging development paradigms like the Liberal Institutional Pluralism (LIP) and New Structural Economics (NSE) schools have to be integrated. While the latter has recognized both State and market failures but failed to provide a unified theory, the former has left the challenging concern of how institutional diversity matter in the development process. We synthesize perspectives from over 150 recently published papers on development and Sino-African relations in order to present the relevance of both the WC and BM in the long-term and short-run respectively. While the paper provides a unified theory by reconciling the WC and the BM to complement the NSE, it at the same time presents a case for economic rights and political rights as short-run and long-run development priorities respectively. By reconciling the WC with the BM, the study contributes at the same to macroeconomic NSE literature of unifying a development theory and to the LIP literature on institutional preferences with stages of development. Hence, the proposed reconciliation takes into account the structural and institutional realities of nations at difference stages of the process of development