scholarly journals Does Medical Expansion Improve Population Health?

2018 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Zheng ◽  
Linda K. George

Medical expansion has become a prominent dynamic in today’s societies as the biomedical model becomes increasingly dominant in the explanation of health, illness, and other human problems and behavior. Medical expansion is multidimensional and represented by expansions in three major components of the healthcare system: increasing medical investment, medical professionalization/specialization, and the relative size of the pharmaceutical industry. Using Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development health data and World Development Indicators 1981 to 2007, we find medical investment and medical professionalization/specialization significantly improve all three measures of life expectancy and decrease mortality rate even after controlling for endogeneity problems. In contrast, an expanded pharmaceutical industry is negatively associated with female life expectancy at age 65 and positively associated with the all-cause mortality rate. It further compromises the beneficial effect of medical professionalization/specialization on population health. In general, medical professionalization/specialization and gross domestic product per capita have similar and stronger effects than medical investment.

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 315-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Urarang Kitur ◽  
Tim Adair ◽  
Alan D. Lopez

Existing estimates of mortality for Papua New Guinea (PNG) have primarily been based on models using little empirical data, and without estimation of life expectancy at subnational level. We used data on deaths from the 2000 and 2011 censuses and indirect demographic methods to estimate under-5 mortality (5q0), adult mortality (45q15), and life expectancy by province and sex. A Socioeconomic Composite Index was constructed to assess the plausibility of life expectancy estimates. We generated 5q0 estimates (68 per 1000 live births for males and 58 for females), 45q15 (269 per 1000 for males and 237 for females), and life expectancy (62.0 years for males and 64.3 for females) in PNG in 2011. Provinces with low life expectancy had correspondingly low levels of development as measured by the Composite Index, and vice versa. These subnational estimates of mortality levels and patterns maybe useful at the provincial level to improve population health in PNG.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li-Lin Liang ◽  
Ching-Hung Tseng ◽  
Hsiu J. Ho ◽  
Chun-Ying Wu

Abstract Objectives: A question central to the Covid-19 pandemic is why the Covid-19 mortality rate varies so greatly across countries. This study aims to investigate factors associated with cross-country variation in Covid-19 mortality.Methods: Covid-19 mortality rate was calculated as number of deaths per 100 Covid-19 cases. To identify factors associated with Covid-19 mortality rate, a multivariable linear regression model was applied to a cross-sectional dataset comprising 78 countries and 1,790,550 patients infected by Covid-19. We retrieved data from the Worldometer website and the Worldwide Governance Indicators and World Development Indicators databases.Results: Covid-19 mortality rate was negatively associated with Covid-19 test number per 1,000 population (RR=0.97; 95% CI 0.96 to 0.99, P=0.013) and government effectiveness indicator (RR=0.96; 95% CI 0.93 to 0.98, P=0.001). Covid-19 mortality rate was positively associated with number of critical cases per 100 Covid-19 cases, Covid-19 case number per 10,000 population, proportion of population aged 65 or older and proportion of deaths attributable to communicable diseases in previous years (all with P<0.05). Predicted mortality rates were highly associated with observed mortality rates (r = 0.74; P<0.001).Conclusions: Multiple factors were associated with Covid-19 mortality rates. Increasing Covid-19 testing and improving government effectiveness may have the potential to attenuate Covid-19 mortality.Authors Li-Lin Liang and Chun-Ying Wu contributed equally to this work.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 26-29
Author(s):  
Michael Willis ◽  
Cheryl Neslusan ◽  
Silas Martin ◽  
Pierre Johansen ◽  
Christian Asseburg ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
David Spirk ◽  
Tim Sebastian ◽  
Stefano Barco ◽  
Martin Banyai ◽  
Jürg H. Beer ◽  
...  

Abstract Objective In patients with cancer-associated venous thromboembolism (VTE), the risk of recurrence is similar after incidental and symptomatic events. It is unknown whether the same applies to incidental VTE not associated with cancer. Methods and Results We compared baseline characteristics, anticoagulation therapy, all-cause mortality, and VTE recurrence rates at 90 days between patients with incidental (n = 131; 52% without cancer) and symptomatic (n = 1,931) VTE included in the SWIss Venous ThromboEmbolism Registry (SWIVTER). After incidental VTE, 114 (87%) patients received anticoagulation therapy for at least 3 months. The mortality rate was 9.2% after incidental and 8.4% after symptomatic VTE for hazard ratio (HR) 1.10 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.49–2.50). After adjustment for competing risk of death, recurrence rate was 3.1 versus 2.8%, respectively, for sub-HR 1.07 (95% CI 0.39–2.93). These results were consistent among cancer (mortality: 15.9% vs. 12.6%; HR 1.32, 95% CI 0.67–2.59; recurrence: 4.8% vs. 4.7%; HR 1.02, 95% CI 0.30–3.42) and noncancer patients (mortality: 2.9% vs. 2.1%; HR 1.37, 95% CI 0.33–5.73; recurrence: 1.5% vs. 2.3%; HR 0.63, 95% CI 0.09–4.58). Patients with incidental VTE who received anticoagulation therapy for at least 3 months had lower mortality (4% vs. 41%) and recurrence rate (1% vs. 18%) compared with those who did not. Conclusion In SWIVTER, more than half of incidental VTE events occurred in noncancer patients who often received anticoagulation therapy. Among noncancer patients, early mortality and recurrence rates were similar after incidental versus symptomatic VTE. Our findings suggest that anticoagulation therapy for incidental VTE may be beneficial regardless of the presence of cancer.


Author(s):  
Javier Cifuentes-Faura

The pandemic caused by COVID-19 has left millions infected and dead around the world, with Latin America being one of the most affected areas. In this work, we have sought to determine, by means of a multiple regression analysis and a study of correlations, the influence of population density, life expectancy, and proportion of the population in vulnerable employment, together with GDP per capita, on the mortality rate due to COVID-19 in Latin American countries. The results indicated that countries with higher population density had lower numbers of deaths. Population in vulnerable employment and GDP showed a positive influence, while life expectancy did not appear to significantly affect the number of COVID-19 deaths. In addition, the influence of these variables on the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 was analyzed. It can be concluded that the lack of resources can be a major burden for the vulnerable population in combating COVID-19 and that population density can ensure better designed institutions and quality infrastructure to achieve social distancing and, together with effective measures, lower death rates.


Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 539
Author(s):  
Boglárka Németh ◽  
Károly Németh ◽  
Jon N. Procter

Ordination methods are used in ecological multivariate statistics in order to reduce the number of dimensions and arrange individual variables along environmental variables. Geoheritage designation is a new challenge for conservation planning. Quantification of geoheritage to date is used explicitly for site selection, however, it also carries significant potential to be one of the indicators of sustainable development that is delivered through geosystem services. In order to achieve such a dominant position, geoheritage needs to be included in the business as usual model of conservation planning. Questions about the quantification process that have typically been addressed in geoheritage studies can be answered more directly by their relationships to world development indicators. We aim to relate the major informative geoheritage practices to underlying trends of successful geoheritage implementation through statistical analysis of countries with the highest trackable geoheritage interest. Correspondence analysis (CA) was used to obtain information on how certain indicators bundle together. Multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) was used to detect sets of factors to determine positive geoheritage conservation outcomes. The analysis resulted in ordination diagrams that visualize correlations among determinant variables translated to links between socio-economic background and geoheritage conservation outcomes. Indicators derived from geoheritage-related academic activity and world development metrics show a shift from significant Earth science output toward disciplines of strong international agreement such as tourism, sustainability and biodiversity. Identifying contributing factors to conservation-related decisions helps experts to tailor their proposals for required evidence-based quantification reports and reinforce the scientific significance of geoheritage.


Author(s):  
Jawad H Butt ◽  
Emil L Fosbøl ◽  
Thomas A Gerds ◽  
Charlotte Andersson ◽  
Kristian Kragholm ◽  
...  

Abstract Background On 13 March 2020, the Danish authorities imposed extensive nationwide lockdown measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and reallocated limited healthcare resources. We investigated mortality rates, overall and according to location, in patients with established cardiovascular disease before, during, and after these lockdown measures. Methods and results Using Danish nationwide registries, we identified a dynamic cohort comprising all Danish citizens with cardiovascular disease (i.e. a history of ischaemic heart disease, ischaemic stroke, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, or peripheral artery disease) alive on 2 January 2019 and 2020. The cohort was followed from 2 January 2019/2020 until death or 16/15 October 2019/2020. The cohort comprised 340 392 and 347 136 patients with cardiovascular disease in 2019 and 2020, respectively. The overall, in-hospital, and out-of-hospital mortality rate in 2020 before lockdown was significantly lower compared with the same period in 2019 [adjusted incidence rate ratio (IRR) 0.91, 95% confidence interval (CI) CI 0.87–0.95; IRR 0.95, 95% CI 0.89–1.02; and IRR 0.87, 95% CI 0.83–0.93, respectively]. The overall mortality rate during and after lockdown was not significantly different compared with the same period in 2019 (IRR 0.99, 95% CI 0.97–1.02). However, the in-hospital mortality rate was lower and out-of-hospital mortality rate higher during and after lockdown compared with the same period in 2019 (in-hospital, IRR 0.92, 95% CI 0.88–0.96; out-of-hospital, IRR 1.04, 95% CI1.01–1.08). These trends were consistent irrespective of sex and age. Conclusions Among patients with established cardiovascular disease, the in-hospital mortality rate was lower and out-of-hospital mortality rate higher during lockdown compared with the same period in the preceding year, irrespective of age and sex.


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