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Does Medical Expansion Improve Population Health?
11 The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
Journal of Health and Social Behavior
|February 3, 2018
Summary
Medical investment and professionalization boost life expectancy and reduce mortality. However, a larger pharmaceutical industry negatively impacts health outcomes, particularly for older women.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Health Economics
- Sociology of Medicine
Background:
- The biomedical model increasingly influences societal understanding of health and illness.
- Medical expansion is a multidimensional phenomenon encompassing investment, professionalization, and the pharmaceutical industry.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the impact of medical expansion components on population health indicators.
- To investigate the relationship between medical investment, professionalization, pharmaceutical industry size, and life expectancy/mortality rates.
Main Methods:
- Utilized Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) health data and World Development Indicators (WDI) from 1981 to 2007.
- Employed statistical methods to assess the effects of medical expansion components on life expectancy and mortality, controlling for endogeneity.
Main Results:
- Medical investment and professionalization significantly improved life expectancy and decreased mortality rates.
- An expanded pharmaceutical industry was linked to lower life expectancy in women aged 65+ and higher all-cause mortality.
- Pharmaceutical industry expansion diminished the positive health effects of medical professionalization.
Conclusions:
- Medical professionalization and GDP per capita demonstrate stronger positive health impacts than medical investment.
- The growth of the pharmaceutical industry may have detrimental effects on population health, counteracting benefits from other healthcare expansions.
Keywords:
expanded pharmaceutical industrymedical expansionmedical investmentmedical professionalization/specializationpopulation healthMore Related Videos
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