Determinants of Life Expectancy at Birth in Iran: A modified Grossman Health Production Function

Health as a prerequisite to perform other activities is considered as bothconsumption and capital commodity. Views on health production may differ.Sometimes, health is assumed as natural endowment, at times, it is generated bythe personal efforts, and sometimes physicians and other health providersprovide it. This paper aims to identify the factors affecting the production ofhealth. To analyze thedeterminants of health production, we focus on life expectancy at birth in Iranover the period 1980-2012, as a dependent variable; and take per capita income,immunization rate and share of expenditure on education( as percent of GDP) asexplanatory variables. Then, weestimate the determinants of life expectancy using Johansen-Juseliuscointegration method for the long-run and error correction model for the short-runin the Eviews.8 software environment. In the long-run, the elasticity of life expectancy with respect to per capitaincome is about 0.12. In addition, the elasticities of life expectancy withregard to the rate of vaccination against illnesses and education levelare 0.35 and 0.13, respectively. Accordingto error correction model, the coefficient of error correction term (ECT) isestimated at -0.022, which shows that the 2.2% of disequilibrium in lifeexpectancy is adjusted in each period and is approached to its long-runequilibrium. the healthier and longer life require policy-makers toadopt more efficient policies in order to raise purchasing power, to enhanceoverall education level and to invest on immunization people against infectiousand communicable diseases

Distribution of Facilities and Accessibility to Health Services in Kerman Province in 2013

Background: Equitable distribution of healthcare resources is one of the main factors in improving the community's health level. The aim of this study was to determine the degree of development in the cities of Kerman province with a focus on health indicators. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study. The study population was all 23 cities of Kerman province in 2013. All indicators of accessibility to health care were obtained from the Statistical Centre of Iran (SCI). Taxonomy techniques were used to determine the degree of development in the cities, Shannon entropy techniques were used to determine the weights of indicators, and TOPSIS techniques were used to rank cities. Data was analysed by EXCEL. Results: According to taxonomy techniques, based on accessibility to health services among 23 cities, 9 were developed, 7 were semi-developed, and 7 were underdeveloped. According to Shannon entropy, the ratio of the number of pharmacists to the population of cities was the main indicator for determining the weight of development in the cities. According to TOPSIS, Ravar was ranked as the first and Arzoiyeh as the last one in terms of development. Conclusion: There is inequitable distribution of resources, especially human resources with higher education. This is probabily due to the tendency of highly educated individuals to live in developed cities with high facilities. In addition, due to lack of proper medical facilities in disadvantaged areas, higher educated human resources refuse to live in such areas. Therefore, policy makers should allocate budjet and make political decisions based on development priorities

Determinants of Life Expectancy at Birth in Iran: A modified Grossman Health Production Function

Health as a prerequisite to perform other activities is considered as bothconsumption and capital commodity. Views on health production may differ.Sometimes, health is assumed as natural endowment, at times, it is generated bythe personal efforts, and sometimes physicians and other health providersprovide it. This paper aims to identify the factors affecting the production ofhealth. To analyze thedeterminants of health production, we focus on life expectancy at birth in Iranover the period 1980-2012, as a dependent variable; and take per capita income,immunization rate and share of expenditure on education( as percent of GDP) asexplanatory variables. Then, weestimate the determinants of life expectancy using Johansen-Juseliuscointegration method for the long-run and error correction model for the short-runin the Eviews.8 software environment. In the long-run, the elasticity of life expectancy with respect to per capitaincome is about 0.12. In addition, the elasticities of life expectancy withregard to the rate of vaccination against illnesses and education levelare 0.35 and 0.13, respectively. Accordingto error correction model, the coefficient of error correction term (ECT) isestimated at -0.022, which shows that the 2.2% of disequilibrium in lifeexpectancy is adjusted in each period and is approached to its long-runequilibrium. the healthier and longer life require policy-makers toadopt more efficient policies in order to raise purchasing power, to enhanceoverall education level and to invest on immunization people against infectiousand communicable diseases

Body mass index in children and its relation with socio-economic factors in West-Azerbaijan, Iran

BACKGROUND: By the epidemiological transition, most of the developing countries still have malnutrition problem as well as different levels of obesity and overweight as most important risk factors of non-communicable and chronic diseases. Body mass index (BMI) is a suitable index for studying them. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between children’s BMI and household socioeconomic status in West-Azerbaijan province, Iran, in 2015.METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 1024 children aged 6-7 years who were assessed in Sanjesh Plan conducted by Organization of Exceptional Education and Training. To determine BMI, world health organization (WHO) Growth Reference (2007) was used. Then, to estimate the risk factors affecting BMI, chi-square test and categorical (multinomial) logistic regression were used.RESULTS: The results showed that obesity, overweight, and thinness were 2.5%, 12.7%, 5.2% in girls, and 4.4%, 12.3%, and 1.8% in boys, respectively, which were statistically significant. Of all the variables studied, insurance, occupation and education level of parents, birth order, and number of household members were not statistically significant. The rest of indicators such as gender, location of residence (city or village), ethnicity, and development degree were statistically significant.CONCLUSION: Since analysis showed that BMI had relation with development degree and location of residence, it can be said that West-Azerbaijan is at the median of transition. Therefore, health policy makers should pay enough attention to prevention of obesity and overweight as well as elimination of thinness and malnutrition

Analysis of Hospital Costs in Road Traffic Injuries

Objective: To investigate the factors affecting the hospital costs in the road traffic injuries.Methods: This applied study examined the information of patients presenting to Yazd Trauma Center in 2018. The data were extracted from Comprehensive Traffic Injuries System affiliated to the center, which were described with frequency, percentage, mean, and SD, and then analyzed using independent t-test and one-way ANOVA.Results: Most injuries (%66.4) are caused by motorcycle and pertained to head region (%61.8). Some significant correlations were found among gender, type of injury, patient’s final status, site of road accident, patient’s nationality, type of vehicle used at the time of accident, length of stay (hospital stay), patient’s age, and hospital costs (p <0.05). Moreover, the costs were higher in men, and in those with head and neck injuries, dead casualties, suburban high-way accidents, motor cyclists, hospital stay longer than three days, and older patients.Conclusion: Given the significant correlations between demographic and social variables under study, the results may be used in planning and designing strategies for controlling road traffic injuries and reducing the related hospitalization costs

Performance Evaluation of Medical Academic Libraries Based on DEA Approach

Medical academic libraries are required to exemplify and quantify the value of their services to their users and parent organizations. Using the Data Envelopment Approach (DEA) technique, this study reports and discusses the efficiency measurement of the 77 academic libraries in Type1 medical sciences universities in Iran. Eleven (11) input and outputs variables were selected to measure the efficiency and performance of the libraries. The selected variables were: Total volumes held, net volumes added during the research period, number of professional staff, and number of supporting staff (service, security, etc.). The total number of full-time students enrollment, full-time instructional faculties, total personal expenditures (professional and supporting staff), area of the libraries, library spaces, computers, and seating capacities. As representative variables of the services libraries provide to their users, we have selected as outputs opening hours per week, the number of registered readers/members (students, faculty, etc.), circulation transactions, and ‌the number of reader visits or attendance. The input-oriented BCC model analyzed libraries' efficiency and benchmarked each inefficient unit by determining and introducing similar efficient units in terms of services and multiple parameters. Out of the 77 libraries analyzed, 30 libraries were efficient, and 47 were ranked as inefficient. By addressing the performance details of each of the introduced units as a benchmark, the finding of this study can help the gatekeeper of these universities to plan and modify their library work plans to improve performance and achieve full efficiency.https://dorl.net/dor/20.1001.1.20088302.2022.20.2.16.1  

A Scoping Review of Components of Physician-induced Demand for Designing a Conceptual Framework

Objectives The current study presents a new conceptual framework for physician-induced demand that comprises several influential components and their interactions. Methods This framework was developed on the basis of the conceptual model proposed by Labelle. To identify the components that influenced induced demand and their interactions, a scoping review was conducted (from January 1980 to January 2017). Additionally, an expert panel was formed to formulate and expand the framework. Results The developed framework comprises 2 main sets of components. First, the supply side includes 9 components: physicians’ incentive for pecuniary profit or meeting their target income, physicians’ current income, the physician/population ratio, service price (tariff), payment method, consultation time, type of employment of physicians, observable characteristics of the physician, and type and size of the hospital. Second, the demand side includes 3 components: patients’ observable characteristics, patients’ non-clinical characteristics, and insurance coverage. Conclusions A conceptual framework that can clearly describe interactions between the components that influence induced demand is a critical step in providing a scientific basis for understanding physicians’ behavior, particularly in the field of health economics

Effect of Governance Indicators on Under-Five Mortality in OECD Nations: Generalized Method of Moments

Introduction: Today, it is recognized that factors other than health services are involved in health improvement and decreased inequality so identifying them is the main concern of policy makers and health authorities. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of governance indicators on health outcomes. Methods: A panel data study was conducted to investigate the effect of governance indicators on child mortality rate in 27 OECD countries from 1996 to 2012 using the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) model and EVIEWS.8 software. Results: According to the results obtained, under-five mortality rate was significantly related to all of the research variables (p < 0.05). One percent increase in under-five mortality in the previous period resulted in a 0.83% increase in the mortality rate in the next period, and a 1% increase in total fertility rate, increased the under-five mortality rate by 0.09%. In addition, a 1% increase in GDP per capita decreased the under-five mortality rate by 0.07%, and a 1% improvement in control of corruption and rule of law indicators decreased child mortality rate by 0.05 and 0.08%, respectively. Furthermore, 1% increase in public health expenditure per capita resulted in a 0.03% decrease in under-five mortality rate. Conclusion: The results of the study suggest that considering control variables, including GDP per capita, public health expenditure per capita, total fertility rate, and improvement of governance indicators (control of corruption and rule of law) would decrease the child mortality rate