Exploring trends and determinants of basic childhood vaccination coverage: Empirical evidence over 41 years.

Vaccination is widely considered to be one of the most important prevention measures as a health strategy. This paper examines trends in basic childhood vaccination coverage and which country and time-dependent determinants may have influenced childhood immunization rates (1-dose BCG, 1- and 3-dose DTP (diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis), 1-dose measles, and 3-dose polio) between 1980 and 2020 across 94 countries. We identify economic, inequality, demographic, health, education, labor market, environmental, and political stability factors of immunization. To do this, we use data from the annual WHO and United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) coverage estimates. The empirical analysis consists of generalized estimating equation models to assess relationships between immunization rates and socioeconomic factors. Additionally, we follow the Barro and Sala-i-Martín approach to identify conditional convergence. Our findings show the strongest positive statistically significant association between immunization rates and GDP per capita, as well as births attended by skilled health staff. Moreover, our research demonstrates conditional convergence, indicating that countries converge towards different steady states. The present study brings new insights to investigating the determinants of childhood vaccination coverage and provides significant implications for health policies.

Alleviating mental health disorders through doses of green spaces: an updated review in times of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted issues due to mental health disorders, in particular the serious consequences derived from lockdown measures. This paper aims to analyse the literature on the potential direct impact of the natural environment on mental health disorders. We have systematically reviewed the studies analysing green spaces and mental health included in this review using PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus and Cochrane Library. A retrospective time-frame is considered, covering the COVID-19 pandemic. We have found that exposure to, use and proximity to green spaces have a beneficial impact on mental health among elderly, students and patients with underlying pathologies. However, it has negative effects on the mental health of women and young adults. Exposure to and interaction with the natural environment can improve certain mental health disorders and should be taken into account for strategies and policies related to future threats to public health.

Have Health Inequalities Increased during the COVID-19 Pandemic? Evidence from Recent Years for Older European Union Citizens.

Reducing inequality is one of the current challenges that most societies are facing. Our aim was to analyze the evolution of inequalities in self-assessed health among older Europeans in a time period spanning the 2008 economic crisis and the COVID-19 health crisis. We used data from Waves 2, 4 and 8 of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. We used inequality indices that accept ordinal variables. Our empirical results suggest that average inequality declines over time. Gender significantly influences the results. Some of the countries with the highest level of inequality are Denmark and Sweden, and some with the lowest are Estonia and the Netherlands. Our results may be of interest for the development of public policies to reduce inequalities. Special attention should be paid to vulnerable groups, such as the elderly.

Why Are Spanish Nurses Going to Work Sick? Questionnaire for the Measurement of Presenteeism in Nurses.

Presenteeism is defined as the presence of the worker at their workplace despite not being in optimal physical or mental conditions. Presenteeism is a phenomenon that has been poorly studied in the context of healthcare. Despite the many negative consequences associated with presenteeism, to date, no studies have investigated this issue in nurses in Spain. The objective was to develop and validate a questionnaire on presenteeism to be used by nursing staff in Spain. METHODS: A psychometric study for the development and validation of a questionnaire. The PRESENCA® questionnaire on presenteeism was created by a panel of experts, based on a survey comprised of 31 Likert-type items. RESULTS: In total, 355 nurses completed the questionnaire. The factorial analysis revealed the existence of 3 factors and confirmed appropriate levels of validity and reliability (alpha = 0.729). CONCLUSIONS: The PRESENCA® questionnaire is the first tool developed and validated in Spanish for the assessment of presenteeism in nursing. Our findings demonstrate that this scale has appropriate psychometric properties and its use may facilitate the detection of presenteeism among professionals. As a result, use of this questionnaire may contribute towards the improvement of clinical safety.

Dependent, Poorer, and More Care-Demanding? An Analysis of the Relationship between Being Dependent, Household Income, and Formal and Informal Care Use in Spain.

Population ageing is one of the current challenges that most societies are facing, with great implications for health systems and social services, including long-term care. This increasing long-term care use is particularly rising for dependent older people, motivating the implementation of regional dependency laws to ensure their care needs' coverage. Using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) from the year 2004 until 2017, the aim of this study is to assess the impact that the Spanish System for Personal Autonomy and Dependency might have on (i) household income, according to different needs for care levels, by running Generalized Linear Models (GLMs); and (ii) formal and informal care use depending on the income-related determinant through the performance of logit random-effects regression models. We show that the different degrees of needs for personal care are associated with a lower household income, being associated with an income reduction from €3300 to nearly €3800, depending on the covariates included, per year for the more severely in-need-for-care older adults. Moreover, our findings point towards a higher use of formal and informal care services by the moderate and severe dependents groups, regardless of the household income group and time period. Bearing in mind the demographic ageing, our results highlight the need for the identification of potentially vulnerable populations and the efficient planification of long-term care systems and social support services.

Quality of Life, Health and the Great Recession in Spain: Why Older People Matter?

The financial crisis of 2008 precipitated the "Great Recession". In this scenario, we took Spain as a country of study, because although it experienced significant negative shocks associated with macroeconomic variables (GDP or unemployment), its welfare indicators have been marked by limited changes. This study used data from waves 2 and 4 (years 2006-2007 and 2010-2012, respectively) of the Survey on Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Specifically, through logistic regressions we have analysed the effects of socioeconomic, demographic, health and "Great Recession" factors on the quality of life (QoL) of elders in Spain. Although QoL did not change too much during the "Great Recession", the results confirmed the importance of several factors (such as chronicity) that affect the satisfaction with the QoL among the older people. In this regard, statistically significant effects were obtained for individual exposure to recession. Therefore, a decrease in household income in the crisis period with respect to the pre-crisis period would increase by 44% the probability of reporting a low QoL (OR = 1.44; 95% CI: 1.00-2.07). Furthermore, gender differences were observed. Health and socioeconomic variables are the most significant when determining individual QoL. Therefore, when creating policies, establishing multidisciplinary collaborations is essential.

Socioeconomic Inequality in the Use of Long-Term Care among European Older Adults: An Empirical Approach Using the SHARE Survey.

The increase in the proportion of elderly people in developed societies has several consequences, such as the rise in demand for long-term care (LTC). Due to cost, inequalities may arise and punish low-income households. Our objective is to examine socioeconomic inequalities in LTC utilization in Europe. We use the last wave from the Survey of Health, Aging, and Retirement in Europe SHARE (Munich Center for the Economics of Ageing, Munich, Germany), dated 2017, to analyze the impact of socioeconomic status (SES) on LTC. For this purpose, we construct logistic models and control for socioeconomic/household characteristics, health status, and region. Then, concentration indices are calculated to assess the distribution of LTC. Moreover, we also analyze horizontal inequity by using the indirect need-standardization process. We use two measures of SES (household net total income and household net wealth) to obtain robust results. Our findings demonstrate that informal care is concentrated among low-SES households, whereas formal care is concentrated in high-SES households. The results for horizontal concentration indices show a pro-rich distribution in both formal and informal LTC. We add new empirical evidence by showing the dawning of deep social inequalities in LTC utilization. Policymakers should implement policies focused on people who need care to tackle socioeconomic inequalities in LTC.

On the nexus of air pollution and health expenditures: new empirical evidence / Relación entre la contaminación atmosférica y los gastos sanitarios: nueva evidencia empírica

Objective: To analyse the impact of per capita income and environmental air quality variables on health expenditure determinants. Method: In this study, we analyse the relationship between air pollution and health expenditure in 29 OECD countries over the period 1995-2014. In addition, we test whether our findings differ between countries with higher or lower incomes. Results: The econometric results show that per capita income has a positive effect on health expenditure, but is not as statistically significant as expected when lag-time is incorporated. In addition, an anchorage effect is observed, which implies that about 80%-90% of previous expenditure explain current expenditure. Our empirical results are quite consistent between groups and when compared with the full sample. Nevertheless, there appear to be some differences when broken down by financing scheme (total, public, and private). Conclusions: Overall, our findings could be used to clarify the appropriate health expenditure level or to obtain better environmental quality and social well-being. That is, empirical support is provided on how health management and policy makers should include more considerations for the use of cleaner fuels in developed countries

Objetivo: Estudiar el impacto que tienen la renta per cápita y las variables de calidad ambiental sobre los gastos sanitarios. Método: Analizamos la relación entre la contaminación atmosférica y el gasto sanitario en 29 países de la OCDE durante el periodo 1995-2014. Además, estudiamos si nuestros hallazgos difieren según los países (con ingresos más altos o más bajos). Resultados: Los resultados econométricos muestran que la renta per cápita tiene un efecto positivo en los gastos sanitarios, pero no tan estadísticamente significativo como se esperaba al incorporar demoras. Además, se aprecia un efecto de anclaje, el cual implica que alrededor del 80-90% de los gastos anteriores explican los actuales. Nuestros resultados empíricos son bastante concordantes entre los grupos considerados, al compararse estos con la muestra completa. Sin embargo, parecen existir algunas diferencias al desglosar por tipo de financiación (total, pública y privada). Conclusión: En general, nuestros hallazgos podrían utilizarse para esclarecer el nivel adecuado de gasto sanitario, o bien para obtener una mejor calidad ambiental y bienestar social. Es decir, se brinda apoyo empírico sobre cómo la Administración (sanitaria) y los responsables de las distintas políticas públicas deberían incluir más consideraciones para el uso de combustibles más limpios en los países desarrollados

The dynamics of health poverty in Spain during the economic crisis (2008-2016).

In recent years, and because of the economic crisis, Spain's government has been worried about changes in health poverty. In this paper, we examine individual health status measured subjectively (SAH) and we decompose some socio-economic determinants to analyse how this situation affects health. We focus on SAH to estimate the poverty trends over time using the Foster-Greer-Thorbecke (FGT) index. For this purpose, we have used data provided by the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC). Our results show a negative growth if a poor SAH status is chosen as a health poverty threshold, and a positive growth of health poverty, if a fair SAH status is chosen. Furthermore, we decompose some socio-economic factors (such as gender, age and education level) to study how these characteristics affect health poverty. Our findings, based on different subgroup decompositions, reveal a rise of health poverty in Spain.

Partner's depression and quality of life among older Europeans.

We aim to study among European older adults (after age 50) if partner's mental health influences the individual's well-being. A sample of married or with registered partnership couples that live together, from the latest wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) is considered. More specifically, we use logistic regressions to determine the impact that partner's mental health has on an individual well-being. Besides, personal health and socio-demographic characteristics are also analysed. Differences by gender have been also considered. We shed new light on the factors determining well-being. The empirical findings show that there are important spillover effects from individual's mental health to the well-being of their partners within households (OR = 1.51; 95% C.I 1.43, 1.59). Our results show utility and empathy between couples, regardless of being a man or a woman. Further, once controlled by the individual traditional factors (age, education or labour status), the interdependence of the closest environment is shown. These findings play a very important role in explaining the public policies that consider the social perspective of well-being in general, as well as mental health policies in particular.

On the nexus of air pollution and health expenditures: new empirical evidence.

OBJECTIVE: To analyse the impact of per capita income and environmental air quality variables on health expenditure determinants. METHOD: In this study, we analyse the relationship between air pollution and health expenditure in 29 OECD countries over the period 1995-2014. In addition, we test whether our findings differ between countries with higher or lower incomes. RESULTS: The econometric results show that per capita income has a positive effect on health expenditure, but is not as statistically significant as expected when lag-time is incorporated. In addition, an anchorage effect is observed, which implies that about 80%-90% of previous expenditure explain current expenditure. Our empirical results are quite consistent between groups and when compared with the full sample. Nevertheless, there appear to be some differences when broken down by financing scheme (total, public, and private). CONCLUSIONS: Overall, our findings could be used to clarify the appropriate health expenditure level or to obtain better environmental quality and social well-being. That is, empirical support is provided on how health management and policy makers should include more considerations for the use of cleaner fuels in developed countries.

Social isolation and multiple chronic diseases after age 50: A European macro-regional analysis.

BACKGROUND: Different studies have found that socioeconomic determinants influence the prevalence of chronic diseases in older people. However, there has been relatively little research on the incidence of how social isolation may affect them. We suggest that social isolation is a serious concern for people living with chronic illnesses. METHOD: In this paper, we examine whether there is an increase in the propensity of being diagnosed with chronic illnesses because of a decrease in social relations for elderly Europeans. We have used a panel data for Waves 1-6 (2004-2015) of Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) and logistic regressions. Besides, we have studied three geographic macro-areas (Nordic, Continental and Southern). Being diagnosed with three or more chronic diseases is considered as a dependent variable, and as social control variables we have used three isolation proxies (living alone, providing help to family, friends or neighbours and participation-club activities). Other socio-demographic variables are included (gender, age, educational level, job situation, area of location and quality of life). RESULTS: Our results for the full sample indicate that people who participate in social activities have fewer probability of suffering from chronic diseases (OR = 0.70, 95% CI 0.54, 0.92). For people who live alone the reverse effect is observed (OR = 1.20, 95% CI 1.04, 1.39). Differences are shown by macro-areas, e.g. providing help (OR = 0.58, 95% CI 0.34, 0.97) isolation proxy is significant for the Nordic macro-area. Club-participation activities and living alone are significant for Continental and Southern macro-areas, respectively (OR = 0.65, 95% CI 0.55, 0.82; OR = 1.46, 95% CI 1.21, 1.77). CONCLUSIONS: Social isolation increases the risk of being diagnosed with chronic illnesses. That is, people with greater social participation have lower risk of suffering from multiple chronic diseases. This risk linked to isolation, together with the traditional one associated with lifestyles, should be considered in the development of new public policies.

Effect of having private health insurance on the use of health care services: the case of Spain.

BACKGROUND: Several stakeholders have undertaken initiatives to propose solutions towards a more sustainable health system and Spain, as an example of a European country affected by austerity measures, is looking for ways to cut healthcare budgets. METHODS: The aim of this paper is to study the effect of private health insurance on health care utilization using the latest micro-data from the European Community Household Panel (ECHP), the Spanish National Health Survey (SNHS) and the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC). We use matching techniques based on propensity score methods: single match, four matches, bias-adjustment and allowing for heteroskedasticity. RESULTS: The results demonstrate that people with a private health insurance, use the public health system less than individuals without double health insurance coverage. CONCLUSIONS: Our conclusions are useful when policy makers design public-private partnership policies.

Opening the black box of under-health people: the case of Spain.

The most famous modern definition of health was created during a Preamble to the Constitution of the World Health Organization in 1946: "Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." This definition has not been amended and, since then, many indicators have been proposed to measure health such as Self-Assessed Health (SAH) status. It provides an overall measure of a population's health based on individuals' personal perceptions of their own health.In this paper, we focus our analysis on "under-health" as the fact of having a level that falls behind the health requirements necessary to perform what is considered an "expected life based on Self Assessed Health". For Spain using the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC), we can confirm there exist under-healthy people by occupation, age group and sex. Additionally, under-healthy workers are most likely to be found among skilled agricultural, fishery workers and elementary occupations.