Physical activity as an investment or consumption good-a mixed methods approach.

Studying individuals' motivation to engage in physical activity raises the question of whether physical activity is a consumption good (enjoyment) or an investment good (a health investment). The aims of the study were: (i) What kind of motivational background is it possible to identify for different forms of physical activity among adults, and (ii) Is there an association between different motivational factors and the form and amount of physical activity among adults. A mixed methods approach was applied using interviews (n = 20) and a questionnaire (n = 156). The qualitative data was analysed using content analysis. The quantitative data were analysed using factor and regression analysis. Among the interviewees, different types of motivation were found: 'enjoyment', 'health reasons' and 'mixed motivations', and from the quantitative data: (i) mixed motivation, a combination of enjoyment and investment, (ii) dislike of physical activity, (iii) social, (iv) goal focused, (v) appearance focused and (vi) exercising only within the comfort zone. Mixed-motivational background, with both enjoyment and investment in health, increased weekly physical activity hours significantly (ß = 1.733; p = 0.001). Personal appearance-based motivation increased weekly muscle training (ß = 0.540; p = 0.000) and brisk physical activity hours (ß = 0651; p = 0.014). Conducting such physical activity which provides enjoyment during the performance of the activity, increased weekly balance-focused exercise hours (ß = 0.224; p = 0.034). People have different kind of motivational backgrounds for engaging in physical activity. Mixed motivational background, including enjoyment and investment in health, yielded more physical activity in hours than if the person had only one of these motivations.

Pairing physical activity with pleasant associations could be a direction for effective physical activity promotion. It is important to enable people to test different physical activity types in order to find the type of physical activity which gives them most joy and pleasure. If one is conducting physical activity purely as an investment in health, the amount of activity is less than when the activity is combined with enjoyment. Getting pleasure from physical activity should be the main target when we try to increase physical activity among people who have previously not enjoyed physical activity.

Municipal resources to promote adult physical activity - a multilevel follow-up study.

BACKGROUND: In Finland, local authorities (municipalities) provide many services, including sports and physical activity facilities such as pedestrian and bicycle ways and lanes, parks, sports arenas and pools. This study aimed to determine whether local authorities can promote physical activity by allocating resources to physical activity facilities. METHODS: The data on municipality expenditure on physical activity and sports, number of sports associations receiving subsidies from the municipality, kilometers of ways for pedestrians and bicycles and hectares of parks in 1999 and 2010 were gathered from national registers. These data were combined using unique municipal codes with individual survey data on leisure-time physical activity (N = 3193) and commuting physical activity (N = 1394). Panel data on physical activity originated from a national health survey, the Health 2000 study, conducted in 2000-2001 and 2011-2012. We used the data of persons who answered the physical activity questions twice and had the same place of residence in both years. In the data, the individuals are nested within municipalities, and multilevel analyses could therefore be applied. The data comprised a two-wave panel and the individuals were followed over 11 years. RESULTS: The resources for physical activity varied between municipalities and years. Municipal expenditure for physical activity and total kilometers of pedestrian ways increased significantly during the 11 years, although a clear decrease was observed in individuals' physical activity. In our models, individual characteristics including higher education level (OR 1.87) and better health status (OR 7.29) increased the odds of increasing physical activity. Female gender was associated with lower (OR 0.83) leisure-time physical activity. Living in rural areas (OR 0.37) decreased commuting physical activity, and age (OR 1.05) increased it. Women (OR 3.16) engaged in commuting physical activity more than men. CONCLUSIONS: Individual-level factors were more important for physical activity than local resources. A large part of the variation in physical activity occurs between individuals, which suggests that some factors not detected in this study explain a large part of the overall variation in physical activity.

Cost-effectiveness of physical activity intervention in children - results based on the Physical Activity and Nutrition in Children (PANIC) study.

BACKGROUND: We assessed the cost-effectiveness of a 2-year physical activity (PA) intervention combining family-based PA counselling and after-school exercise clubs in primary-school children compared to no intervention from an extended service payer's perspective. METHODS: The participants included 506 children (245 girls, 261 boys) allocated to an intervention group (306 children, 60 %) and a control group (200 children, 40 %). The children and their parents in the intervention group had six PA counselling visits, and the children also had the opportunity to participate in after-school exercise clubs. The control group received verbal and written advice on health-improving PA at baseline. A change in total PA over two years was used as the outcome measure. Intervention costs included those related to the family-based PA counselling, the after-school exercise clubs, and the parents' taking time off to travel to and participate in the counselling. The cost-effectiveness analyses were performed using the intention-to-treat principle. The costs per increased PA hour (incremental cost-effectiveness ratio, ICER) were based on net monetary benefit (NMB) regression adjusted for baseline PA and background variables. The results are presented with NMB and cost-effectiveness acceptability curves. RESULTS: Over two years, total PA increased on average by 108 h in the intervention group (95 % confidence interval [CI] from 95 to 121, p < 0.001) and decreased by 65.5 h (95 % CI from 81.7 to 48.3, p < 0.001) in the control group, the difference being 173.7 h. the incremental effectiveness was 87 (173/2) hours. For two years, the intervention costs were €619 without parents' time use costs and €860 with these costs. The costs per increased PA hour were €6.21 without and €8.62 with these costs. The willingness to pay required for 95 % probability of cost-effectiveness was €14 and €19 with these costs. The sensitivity analyses revealed that the ICER without assuming this linear change in PA were €3.10 and €4.31. CONCLUSIONS: The PA intervention would be cost-effective compared to no intervention among children if the service payer's willingness-to-pay for a 1-hour increase in PA is €8.62 with parents' time costs. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01803776. Registered 4 March 2013 - Retrospectively registered, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?cond=&term=01803776&cntry=&state=&city=&dist= .

Incident Use of a Potentially Inappropriate Medication and Hip Fracture in Community-Dwelling Older Persons With Alzheimer's Disease.

BACKGROUND: Potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) increase the risk of adverse drug reactions and events and have been associated with greater health care service use, such as an increased risk of hospitalization. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to evaluate the association between PIM use and hip fractures in a nationwide cohort of community-dwelling persons ≥65 years old with Alzheimer's disease (AD). METHODS: The study, which is based on the Finnish nationwide MEDALZ cohort, included all persons diagnosed with AD between 2005 and 2011 (n = 70 718). After a 1-year washout period for PIM use and exclusion of persons with previous hip fracture before AD diagnosis or those who had been hospitalized, we included 47 850 persons ≥65 years old with AD. PIM use was identified using Finnish criteria. Associations between PIM use and hip fracture were analyzed with Cox proportional hazards regression. RESULTS: Of the study population, 12.3% (n = 5895) initiated PIMs during the follow-up (maximum follow-up 2921 days and total number of person-years 139 538.7). Of those, 103 (1.7%) persons had hip fractures during the PIM use period. The results suggest that PIM use was only associated with an increased risk of hip fracture with incident PIM use (adjusted hazard ratio = 1.31; 95% CI = 1.06-1.63; P = 0.014). CONCLUSIONS: PIM use is associated with increased risk of hip fracture when a person uses PIMs for the first time. However, the association between PIM use and hip fracture should be investigated more comprehensively in future studies.

A Systematic Review of the Impact of Potentially Inappropriate Medication on Health Care Utilization and Costs Among Older Adults.

BACKGROUND: Potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) are defined as those medicines having a greater potential risk than benefit for older adults. In this systematic literature review, we evaluate the current evidence on health care service use and health care costs associated with PIMs among older adults. METHODS: A literature search was conducted in August 2015 without publication date restrictions using the databases PubMed and Scopus. Selected articles included in the review of articles were: (1) observational cohort or case-control, or intervention studies; (2) investigating PIM use among older adults aged 65 years or older with outcomes on health care utilization (eg, hospitalization) or health care costs; and (3) use of some published criteria for assessing PIMs. RESULTS: Of 825 abstracts screened, in total 51 articles proceeded to full-text review. Of those full-text articles, 39 articles were included in this review. Most of the articles found that PIMs had a statistically significant effect on health care service use, especially on hospitalization, among older adults. The findings of impact on length of stay or readmissions were inconclusive. Five studies found statistically significant higher medical or total health care costs for PIM users compared those who did not use any PIMs. CONCLUSIONS: PIMs can, in addition to health and quality of life problems, also lead to greater health care service use and, thus, higher health care costs. However, the heterogeneity of the study settings makes the interpretation of the results difficult. Further studies, especially on economic issues with country-specific criteria, are needed.

Health inequality in the Russian Federation: An examination of the changes in concentration and achievement indices from 1994 to 2013.

BACKGROUND: To assess and quantify the magnitude of health inequalities ascribed to socioeconomic strata from 1994 to 2013 in the Russian Federation. METHODS: A balanced sample of 1,496 adult individuals extracted from the 1994 wave of the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS) is followed for stated self-perceived health status until 2013. The socioeconomic strata (SES) index is constructed with a set of variables (adult equivalent household income, ownership of assets and living conditions) by applying principal component analysis (PCA). We use a regression-based concentration index to measure differences in self-perceived health status. Finally, we examine the degree of aversion to inequalities in self-perceived health status between the worse-off and the better-off with the achievement index. RESULTS: By 2013, the mean standardized self-perceived health status has improved by 4.6 % compared to 1994. The absolute size of Concentration Index (CI) for non - standardized self-perceived health status is reduced by 44.27 % from 1994 to 2013. No systematic trend emerges in the evolution of CI for self-perceived health status of the Russians over the 19 year period. However, avoidable inequalities in self-perceived health status of the Russian population is reduced by almost 60 % over the two decades (1994-2013). CONCLUSION: SES, as defined with objective indicators, shows little consistency in association with self-perceived health status in the Russian Federation. This study highlights the need for future research that considers the context of stated self-perceived health status in the realm of subjective socioeconomic status (SSS).

Inequalities in perceived health in the Russian Federation, 1994-2012.

BACKGROUND: Individual characteristics and socioeconomic strata (SES) are important determinants of health differences. We examine health inequalities in Russia and estimate the association of demography (gender and age) and SES (working status, income, geography of residence, living standard, wealth possession, and durable asset-holding) with perceived health over the period 1994-2012. METHODS: This study uses nationally representative datasets from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS: 1994-2012). We apply a random effect GLS model to examine the association of individual characteristics and individual heterogeneity in explaining self-perceived health status. In addition, we estimate a regression-based concentration index, which we decompose into the determinants of health inequalities. RESULTS: The self-perceived health differences between the better-off and the worse-off is reduced over the 18 year period (1994 - 2012). The individual variances in self-perceived health status are higher compared to the variances between the individuals over the period. The measure of health inequality index (concentration index) indicates a change for better health for the better-off Russians. Being employed matters in perceiving a better health status for the Russians in 2012. CONCLUSIONS: Self-perceived health differences in the Russian Federation has changed over time. Such differences in changes are attributable to both changes in the distribution of the determinants of health as well as changes in the association between the determinants of health with the self-perceived health status. Though this study identifies the determinants of health inequalities for the Russians, the future research is to examine the in-country distribution of these determinants that produce health differences within the Russian Federation.

The association between self-perceived health status and satisfaction with healthcare services: Evidence from Armenia.

BACKGROUND: Armenians very rarely seek healthcare services and, consequently experience more serious health conditions. With its ongoing reforms, Armenia is focusing on linking health system financing to the quality and volume of care provided. We examine the relationship between the perceived health status of the population and the satisfaction with healthcare services. METHODS: A pooled probit model is applied to analyse three datasets (2010, 2011 and 2012) from the Integrated Living Conditions Survey (ILCS). RESULTS: We find a strong association between self-perceived health and satisfaction with healthcare services but this association is not consistent across regions. CONCLUSIONS: The socioeconomic position of the household alone does not explain the perception of individual health status. The perceived dwelling condition and geography of residence emerged as important stressors on associations between the perceived health status of the population and the satisfaction with healthcare services. We have modelled the perceived health status and satisfaction with the healthcare services using demand side datasets. This study establishes the need to re-examine this association in a multidimensional construct.

Electrode migration after cochlear implant surgery: more common than expected?

The overall complication rate of cochlear implant surgery is low and so-called electrode failures (electrode migration, misplacement, etc.,) account for only a minority of all complications. The aim of this study was to explore the prevalence of electrode migration as the cause for increased impedance values and non-auditory stimulation in the basal channels. Within the scope of a quality control process, the cochlear implant database of the Kuopio University Hospital (Finland) was reviewed. Patients with gradual elevation of impedance values and/or non-auditory stimulation of the basal electrode channels were re-examined and cone-beam computed tomography was administered. There were 162 cochlear implant recipients and 201 implanted devices registered in the database. A total of 18 patients (18 devices) were identified having significantly increased impedance values or non-auditory stimulation of the basal electrodes. Cone-beam computed tomography revealed extra-cochlear electrodes in 12 of these patients due to the migration of the electrode array. All extruded electrodes were lateral wall electrodes, i.e., straight electrode arrays (Cochlear CI422 and Med-El devices). The most common feature of electrode migration was the gradual increase of the impedance values in the basal electrodes, even though telemetry could also be unsuspicious. Electrode migration after cochlear implant surgery may be more common than previously reported. At surgery, special attention should be paid to the reliable fixation of the electrode array. This study underlines the importance of postoperative imaging after cochlear implant surgery.

Psychosocial problems in adolescents associated with frequent health care use.

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of somatic, mental and behavioural problems increases in puberty. Nevertheless, compared to adults, health service utilization by adolescents, and associated factors such as risky health behaviours, have been poorly explored. In order to improve health care services, there is a need for further research on adolescents frequently using primary health care. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to investigate adolescents who seek help for health issues, and examine whether particular socio-economic or psychological factors predict frequent primary health care use. METHODS: Finnish adolescents aged 13-18 years (N = 793) attending comprehensive, upper secondary and vocational schools participated in the study in 2005. Data were collected using a questionnaire that included the Youth Self Report (YSR), as well as questions on the psychosocial background of the adolescents and substance use. Data regarding the frequency of use of health services were gathered from medical records of the local public health care services. RESULTS: Altogether, 288 in the sample had used primary health care services making a combined total of 1411 health care visits. Female gender associated with frequent primary health care use. Furthermore, a high level of alcohol consumption and mental health symptoms in girls, and increased self-reported somatic complaints in the YSR in boys were associated with frequent primary health care use. Attending upper secondary school was related to less frequent primary health care use. CONCLUSION: Few adolescents frequently use primary health care, but they account for a considerable proportion of all adolescent health care visits. There are higher levels of alcohol consumption, as well as socio-economic, educational and gender differences among adolescent frequent primary health care users.

Alcohol use among adolescents, aggressive behaviour, and internalizing problems.

Alcohol use is common among adolescents, but its association with behavioural and emotional problems is not well understood. This study aimed to investigate how self-reported psychosocial problems were associated with the use of alcohol in a community sample consisting of 4074 Finnish adolescents aged 13-18 years. Aggressive behaviour associated with alcohol use and a high level of alcohol consumption, while internalizing problems did not associate with alcohol use. Having problems in social relationships associated with abstinence and lower alcohol consumption. Tobacco smoking, early menarche and attention problems also associated with alcohol use.

Impact of routine contrast-enhanced CT on costs and use of hospital resources in patients with acute abdomen. Results of a randomised clinical trial.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the costs of treatment and use of hospital resources when comparing routine abdominal CT and selective imaging practice based on clinical assessment in patients with acute abdomen. METHODS: Altogether 300 patients with acute abdominal pain were randomised to computed tomography (CT, n = 150) or selective imaging practice (SIP, n = 150) groups. Final analysis included 254 patients, 143 in the CT and 111 in the SIP group. All CT group patients underwent contrast-enhanced abdominal CT within 24 h of admission. In the SIP group, imaging was individually tailored based on clinical assessment. The numbers of various examinations and procedures as well as costs of treatment arising from acute abdomen were calculated for each patient. Length of hospital stay was registered. RESULTS: Total treatment cost per patient was 1,202 euros () higher in the CT group compared to the SIP group (P = 0.002). The length of hospital stay was 1.2 days longer in the CT group (3.7 vs. 2.5 days, P = 0.010). Routine CT had no impact on ED discharge times. Imaging costs accounted for approximately 10 % of total costs. CONCLUSION: Routine abdominal CT results in higher treatment costs compared to selective use of imaging in patients with acute abdomen. KEY POINTS: • CT is widely used almost routinely in the diagnostics of acute abdomen. • Patients with acute abdomen were randomised to routine CT or selective imaging. • The treatment costs were significantly higher in the routine CT group. • Length of hospital stay was longer in the CT group. • Selective use of imaging may help control continuous increases of treatment costs.

Neuropsychiatric symptoms and quality of life in patients with very mild and mild Alzheimer's disease.

BACKGROUND: Neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) are common manifestations of Alzheimer' s disease (AD). OBJECTIVE: To examine the prevalence and significance of NPS in very mild and mild AD patients with emphasis on their influence on the well-being of the patients and their caregivers. METHODS: The participants were 240 patient-caregiver dyads who participated in a prospective, controlled rehabilitation study (ALSOVA). Three Quality of Life (QoL) instruments were used; generic 15D, disease-specific QoL-AD and Visual Analog Scale (VAS). The disease-specific QoL-AD was both self-rated and caregiver rated. Other scales used were Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR), ADCS-ADL, Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). RESULTS: NPS were present in 76.5% of patients with very mild AD (CDR 0.5) and in 84.9% of patients with mild to moderate AD (CDR 1). The most frequent symptoms were apathy, depression, irritability, and agitation. The strongest predictor of self-reported QoL-AD scores was depressive symptoms whereas functional decline and presence of NPS predicted poor caregiver ratings of patients' QoL. However, caregiver depression also influenced significantly their ratings. CONCLUSION: NPS are common even in the early stages of AD. NPS were significantly associated with caregiver assessment of the patient's QoL but not with patients' self-assessed QoL. Depression decreases QoL, but may remain unrecognized in AD patients, emphasizing the need for careful and structured assessment of NPS before deciding on the appropriate treatment.

Does the company's economic performance affect access to occupational health services?

BACKGROUND: In Finland like in many other countries, employers are legally obliged to organize occupational health services (OHS) for their employees. Because employers bear the costs of OHS it could be that in spite of the legal requirement OHS expenditure is more determined by economic performance of the company than by law. Therefore, we explored whether economic performance was associated with the companies' expenditure on occupational health services. METHODS: We used a prospective design to predict expenditure on OHS in 2001 by a company's economic performance in 1999. Data were provided by Statistics Finland and expressed by key indicators for profitability, solidity and liquidity and by the Social Insurance Institution as employers' reimbursement applications for OHS costs. The data could be linked at the company level. Regression analysis was used to study associations adjusted for various confounders. RESULTS: Nineteen percent of the companies (N = 6 155) did not apply for reimbursement of OHS costs in 2001. The profitability of the company represented by operating margin in 1999 and adjusted for type of industry was not significantly related to the company's probability to apply for reimbursement of the costs in 2001 (OR = 1.00, 95%CI: 0.99 to 1.01). Profitability measured as operating profit in 1999 and adjusted for type of industry was not significantly related to costs for curative medical services (Beta -0.001, 95%CI: -0.00 to 0.11) nor to OHS cost of prevention in 2001 (Beta -0.001, 95%CI: -0.00 to 0.00). CONCLUSION: We did not find a relation between the company's economic performance and expenditure on OHS in Finland. We suppose that this is due to legislation obliging employers to provide OHS and the reimbursement system both being strong incentives for employers.

Patient characteristics and fairness.

This study examines the fairness concept of health care professionals, and asks whether they are willing to use a patient's age and other potential fairness characteristics rather than health benefits as relevant arguments in the allocation of health care resources? The patient characteristics in the health care professionals' survey encompass age, productivity and lifestyle. The study is a replication of a much older study from the 1970s. The present study finds that the understanding of fairness among health care professionals differs from concepts of fairness in legislation. The status of various patient characteristics as rationing arguments has remained much the same, although nowadays health care professionals are expected to be more aware of moral dimensions and also legislation on patients' rights. The fairness concept of health care professionals may lead to resource allocation decisions that deviate from the intention of such legislation.

Patient- and health care-related factors associated with initiation of potentially inappropriate medication in community-dwelling older persons.

Potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) in older persons are defined as medications of which the potential harms outweigh their benefits. The purpose of this study was to determine how initiation of PIMs accumulate in community-dwelling persons aged 65-74 and ≥75 years, and which patient- and health care-related factors are associated with PIM initiation over time. Data of this study were gathered from population-based registers by a 10% random sample of persons (n = 28 497) aged ≥65 years with no prior PIMs within a 2-year period preceding the index date (1 January 2002), and the study individuals were followed until 2013. The Finnish Prescription Register was linked using a personal identity code to register on inpatient care and causes of deaths and socio-economic data. In this study, 10 698 (37.5%) persons initiated PIMs during the study period. Female gender was associated with PIM initiation in 65-74-year-olds, but not in ≥75-year-olds. In 65-74-year-olds, the risk of PIM initiation increased with the higher income, whereas in ≥75-year-olds, the association between PIM initiation and the high income was not significant. The prescribing physician explained 9%-16% of the variation in the probability of PIM initiation. In conclusion, there were age-related differences in the factors associated with PIM initiation in relation to gender and socio-economic status. Overall, patient-related factors explained a large proportion of variation of PIM initiation, but there were also differences in PIM prescribing among physicians. However, physician-related variance of PIM initiations decreased during the 12-year follow-up.

The association of potentially inappropriate medication use on health outcomes and hospital costs in community-dwelling older persons: a longitudinal 12-year study.

AIMS: To determine (1) whether potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) use defined by the Meds75 + database is associated with fracture-specific hospitalisations and all-cause mortality, and (2) the association between PIM use and all-cause hospitalisation costs in a 12-year follow-up of a nationwide sample of people aged ≥ 65 years in Finland. METHODS: This is a longitudinal study of 20,666 community-dwelling older persons with no prior purchases of PIMs within a 2-year period preceding the index date (1 Jan 2002), who were followed until the end of 2013. Data were obtained from the Finnish Prescription Register, and it was accompanied by information on inpatient care, causes of deaths and socioeconomic status from other national registers. Propensity score matching (PSM) analysis was used to account for potential selection effect in PIM use. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to identify the time to the first fracture or death by comparing PIM-users (n = 10,333) with non-users (n = 10,333). The association between PIM use and hospital costs was analysed with a fixed effects linear model. RESULTS: PIM use was weakly associated with an increased risk of fractures and death. The association was stronger in the first PIM-use periods. Hospitalised PIM-users had 15% higher hospital costs compared to non-users during the 12-year follow-up. CONCLUSION: PIM initiation was associated with an increased risk of fracture-specific hospitalisation and mortality and PIM-users had higher hospital costs than non-users. Health care providers should carefully consider these issues when prescribing PIM for older persons.

Promoting prevention with economic arguments - the case of Finnish occupational health services.

BACKGROUND: Both social and ethical arguments have been used to support preventive occupational health services (OHS). During the 1990s it became more common to support political argumentation for occupational health and safety by converting the consequences of ill health at work into monetary units. In addition, OHS has been promoted as a profitable investment for companies, and this aspect has been used by OHS providers in their marketing. Our intention was to study whether preventive occupational health services positively influence a company's economic performance. METHODS: We combined the financial statements provided by Statistics Finland and employers' reimbursement applications for occupational health services (OHS) costs to the Social Insurance Institution. The data covered the years 1997, 1999 and 2001 and over 6000 companies. We applied linear regression analysis to assess whether preventive OHS had a positive influence on the companies' economic performance after two or four years. RESULTS: Resources invested in preventive OHS were not positively related to a company's economic performance. In fact, the total cost of preventive OHS per turnover was negatively correlated to economic performance. CONCLUSION: Even if OHS has no effect on the economic performance of companies, it may have other effects more specific to OHS. Therefore, we recommend that the evaluation of prevention in OHS should move towards outcome measures, such as sickness absence, disability pension and productivity, when applicable, both in occupational health service research and in practice at workplaces.

Examining Health Inequalities in Latvia: A Decade of Association between Socioeconomic Position and Perceived Health Status.

The relationship between socioeconomic position (SEP) and population health is contextual. This study identifies the determinants of SEP producing health inequalities in the Latvian population. We also estimate the proportional contribution of different socioeconomic strata- (SES-) related determinants in Latvian health inequalities and measure the changes in the relative contributions of such determinants over the period 2005-2015. Using the household survey data (2005-2015), we construct a principal component analysis based SES index. A regression-based concentration index (CI) is our measure of health inequality to examine the distribution of perceived health status. Finally, we identify and estimate the contribution of predictors of health inequalities by decomposing CI with Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition. SES-related health inequalities have declined from 2005 (CI: 0.201) to 2015 (CI: 0.137) in Latvia-better-off Latvians enjoyed better perceived health during that period. The proportional contributions of education and working status have increased in 2015 compared to 2005. Although we have generated the first evidence to suggest policy relevant measures in addressing Latvian health inequalities, our decomposition method explains the extent of variation in perceived health instead of covariance between health and SEP.