Is Transient and Persistent Poverty Harmful to Multimorbidity?: Model Testing Algorithms

Multimorbidity, the coexistence of two or more long-term medical conditions in one person, has been known to disproportionally affect the low-income population. Little is known about whether long-term income is more crucial for multimorbidity than income measured in one time point; whether persistent poverty is more harmful than transient one; how changes in wealth affect multimorbidity. This is a longitudinal study on a population representative dataset, the Korean Health Panel (KHP) survey (2010–2015). A multivariate analysis was conducted using logistic regressions. A variety of income and wealth variables was investigated. Low-income Koreans (lowest 20%) were more likely to have multiple disorders; average income was more significantly associated with multimorbidity than the yearly income measured for the same year; persistent episodes of poverty had a greater hazard than transient ones; and income changes appeared to be statistically insignificant. We found that long-term income and persistent poverty are important factors of multimorbidity. These findings support the importance of policies reducing the risk of persistent poverty. Policies to promote public investment in education and create jobs may be appropriate to address multimorbidity.

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Assessing the effect of public capital on growth: An extension of the World Bank Long-Term Growth Model

Journal of Infrastructure Policy and Development ◽

10.24294/jipd.v3i1.1083 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 22

Author(s):

Sharmila Devadas ◽

Steven Pennings

Keyword(s):

Growth Model ◽

Low Income ◽

Capital Stock ◽

Public Investment ◽

Public Capital ◽

Low Income Countries ◽

The World ◽

A Share

To analyze the effect of an increase in the quantity or quality of public investment on growth, this paper extends the World Bank’s Long-Term Growth Model (LTGM), by separating the total capital stock into public and private portions, with the former adjusted for its quality. The paper presents the LTGM public capital extension and accompanying freely downloadable Excel-based tool. It also constructs a new infrastructure efficiency index, by combining quality indicators for power, roads, and water as a cardinal measure of the quality of public capital in each country. In the model, public investment generates a larger boost to growth if existing stocks of public capital are low, or if public capital is particularly important in the production function. Through the lens of the model and utilizing newly-collated cross-country data, the paper presents three stylized facts and some related policy implications. First, the measured public capital stock is roughly constant as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) across income groups, which implies that the returns to new public investment, and its effect on growth, are roughly constant across development levels. Second, developing countries are relatively short of private capital, which means that private investment provides the largest boost to growth in low-income countries. Third, low-income countries have the lowest quality of public capital and the lowest efficient public capital stock as a share of GDP. Although this does not affect the returns to public investment, it means that improving the efficiency of public investment has a sizable effect on growth in low-income countries. Quantitatively, a permanent 1 ppt GDP increase in public investment boosts growth by around 0.1–0.2 ppts over the following few years (depending on the parameters), with the effect declining over time.

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The contribution of pre- and postdisaster social support to short- and long-term mental health after Hurricanes Katrina: A longitudinal study of low-income survivors

Social Science & Medicine ◽

10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.05.037 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 138 ◽

pp. 38-43 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Christian S. Chan ◽

Sarah R. Lowe ◽

Elyssa Weber ◽

Jean E. Rhodes

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Social Support ◽

Longitudinal Study ◽

Low Income ◽

Short And Long Term

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Owner-reported flea treatment measures and skin disease in cats

Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery ◽

10.1177/1098612x18773911 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 21 (4) ◽

pp. 282-285 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Sophie Tyler ◽

Claire Roberts ◽

Aiden Foster ◽

Natalie Barnard ◽

Jane K Murray

Keyword(s):

Longitudinal Study ◽

Confidence Interval ◽

Skin Disease ◽

Reverse Causality ◽

Time Points ◽

Flea Infestation ◽

The Past ◽

Treatment Measures ◽

Time Point

Objectives The aim of this study was to obtain information regarding the use of flea treatments and owner-reported flea infestation and skin disease. Methods Owners of 1150 cats were recruited into a long-term longitudinal study (‘Bristol Cats’ study) and asked to complete questionnaires at set time points. Questionnaires 1 and 5 were used and included data collection for kittens aged 2–4 months (T1) and at 2.5 years of age (T2). Owners were asked which brand of flea treatment, if any, was used at each time point. At T2 owners were asked if they had noted signs of skin disease or fleas on their cat within the previous 12 months and if they had sought veterinary attention for the skin disease or fleas. IBM SPSS version 23 was used for statistical analyses. Results Skin disease at T2 was reported by owners of 55/1150 (4.8%; 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.7–6.2) cats. Many owners who reported skin disease (25/55 [45.5%]; 95% CI 32.3–58.7) had not sought veterinary attention. There were 81/1150 (7.0%; 95% CI 5.6–8.5) cats with reported head shaking and/or ear scratching within the past 12 months at T2. The majority of cats (204/286; 71.3%) received prescription flea treatments at both points. Use of non-prescription flea treatment at T2 was more likely to be associated with owner-reported skin disease/flea infestation than those who used prescription flea treatment ( P <0.001). There was a significant association between the reported presence of fleas and reported presence of skin disease at T2 ( P = 0.03). Conclusions and relevance Despite the potential for reverse causality, the association between owner-reported skin disease and/or flea infestation in their cats and the use of non-prescription flea treatment was as expected. Use of flea treatments and, in particular, the type of ectoparasite control used (prescription or non-prescription) should be carefully assessed when managing cats with skin disease.

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