Dundee Discussion Papers in Economics 214:Longitudinal analysis of income-related health inequality

This paper considers the characterisation and measurement of income-related health inequality using longitudinal data. The paper elucidates the nature of the Jones and Lopez Nicholas (2004) index of “health-related income mobility” and explains the negative values of the index that have been reported in all the empirical applications to date. The paper further questions the value of their index to health policymakers and proposes an alternative index of “income-related health mobility” that measures whether the pattern of health changes is biased in favour of those with initially high or low incomes. We illustrate our work by investigating mobility in the General Health Questionnaire measure of psychological well-being over the first nine waves of the British Household Panel Survey from 1991 to 1999

Relationship between exports, imports, and economic growth in France: evidence from cointegration analysis and Granger causality with using geostatistical models

This paper introduces a new way of investigating linear and nonlinear Granger causality between exports, imports and economic growth in France over the period 1961-2006 with using geostatistical models (kiriging and inverse distance weighting). Geostatistical methods are the ordinary methods for forecasting the locations and making map in water engineerig, environment, environmental pollution, mining, ecology, geology and geography. Although, this is the first time which geostatistics knowledge is used for economic analyzes. In classical econometrics there do not exist any estimator which have the capability to find the best functional form in the estimation. Geostatistical models investigate simultaneous linear and various nonlinear types of causality test, which cause to decrease the effects of choosing functional form in autoregressive model. This approach imitates the Granger definition and structure but improve it to have better ability to investigate nonlinear causality. Results of both VEC and Improved-VEC (with geostatistical methods) are similar and show existance of long run unidirectional causality from exports and imports to economic growth. However the F-statistic of improved-VEC is larger than VEC indicating that there are some exponential and spherical functions in the VEC structure instead of the linear form.Granger causality; Exports; Imports; Economic growth; Geostatistical model; Kiriging; Inverse distance weighting; Vector auto-regression; France

Societal costs of hearing disorders: A systematic and critical review of literature.

Objective: The objective of this study was to perform a critical and systematic literature review of studies on societal costs due to hearing disorders. Design: We used predefined search terms and inclusion/exclusion criteria. Systematic searches were conducted in Medline, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, and other relevant websites. The review included studies written in English or Swedish between 1995 and the end of January 2012. Study sample: We identified four published studies and four reports that met the pre-defined inclusion criteria. Results: Swedish cost studies primarily focused on costs of hearing aids. International studies with a societal perspective used different costing approaches and were limited to specific patient populations. Hearing disorders impact the social welfare system more than the medical care system. Indirect costs account for the major part and direct medical costs for a minor part of the total costs of hearing disorders. Conclusions: There is a need for further studies estimating societal costs for all degrees of hearing disorders, in particular since a large part of the people with hearing disorders are of working age

A new approach for estimation of long-run relationships in economic analysis using Engle-Granger and artificial intelligence methods

In time series analysis, most estimation of relationships and tests are typically based on linear estimators and most classical co-integration methods and causality tests are based on OLS regresses. However the linear functional specification is not necessarily the most appropriate form. This paper breaks the ordinary rules in econometrics and makes use of time series with artificial intelligence methods, testing for existence of nonlinear relationship. We illustrate the testing exercise using two examples based on OECD health data. In our illustration we confirm that improved nonlinear AEG and VEC, significantly, have a better ability to identify long run co-integration and causal relationships than ordinary linear ones. Ordinary methods and improved-nonlinear methods demonstrate similar results if the variables in a model are approximately linear

Time characteristics of the effect of alcohol cessation on the risk of stomach cancer a meta-analysis

Background: In the Bagnardi et al. (2001) meta-analysis, it was found that alcohol consumption increases the risk of stomach cancer (OR = 1.32 for heavy drinkers). However, it is unknown if drinking cessation reverses this alcohol-elevated risk. Methods: A systematic literature review was performed to provide the information for a meta-analysis where the dose-risk trend was estimated for years since drinking cessation and the risk of stomach cancer. A random effect generalised least squares model for trend estimation was used, employing study characteristics to control for heterogeneity. Results: Nineteen observational studies were identified in the literature review, of which five studies quantified duration of cessation and risk of stomach cancer, giving a total of 1947 cancer cases. No significant effect of drinking cessation on the risk of stomach cancer could be found (OR = 0.99 CI: 0.97-1.02). Conclusions: This result should be interpreted with caution due to the limited number of studies in this area. Recent findings suggest a link between heavy drinking and stomach cancer, especially gastric noncardia, but not for moderate drinking. Since all but one of the included studies in this meta-analysis failed to control for consumption level, the current study could not test if the risk decline following drinking cessation differs between moderate and high consumers

Health Care Utilisation and Attitudes towards Health Care in Subjects Reporting Environmental Annoyance from Electricity and Chemicals

Environmentally intolerant persons report decreased self-rated health and daily functioning. However, it remains unclear whether this condition also results in increased health care costs. The aim of this study was to describe the health care consumption and attitudes towards health care in subjects presenting subjective environmental annoyance in relation to the general population, as well as to a group with a well-known disorder as treated hypertension (HT). Methods. Postal questionnaire (n = 13 604) and record linkage with population-based register on health care costs. Results. Despite significantly lower subjective well being and health than both the general population and HT group, the environmentally annoyed subjects had lower health care costs than the hypertension group. In contrast to the hypertension group, the environmentally annoyed subjects expressed more negative attitudes toward the health care than the general population. Conclusions. Despite their impaired subjective health and functional capacity, health care utilisation costs were not much increased for the environmentally annoyed group. This may partly depend on negative attitudes towards the health care in this group

Equalisation of alcohol participation among socioeconomic groups over time: an analysis based on the total differential approach and longitudinal data from Sweden

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Health inequality and its social determinants are well-studied, but the determinants of inequality of alcohol consumption are less well-investigated.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The total differential approach of decomposition of changes in the concentration index of the probability of participation in alcohol consumption was applied to 8-year longitudinal data for Swedish women aged 28-76 in 1988/89.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Alcohol consumption showed a pro-rich inequality, with income being a strong contributor. Overall participation remained fairly constant, but the inequality decreased over time as abstinence became less common among the poor and more common among the rich. This was mainly due to changes in the relative weights of certain population groups, such as a decrease in the proportional size of the oldest cohorts.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Inequality in participation in alcohol consumption is pro-rich in Sweden. This inequality has tended to decrease over time, due to changes in population composition rather than to policy intervention.</p