Social participation and independence in activities of daily living: a cross sectional study.

Background: It is today widely accepted that participation in social activities contributes towards successful ageing whilst, at the same time, maintaining independence in the activities of daily living (ADLs) is the sine qua non for achieving that end. This study looks at people aged 65 and over living in an urban area in Spain who retain the ability to attend Social Centres providing recreational facilities. The aim of this paper is to quantify independence and identify the risk factors involved in its deterioration.

Theoretical arguments for the discounting of health consequences: where do we go from here?

Despite the theoretical arguments presented in the literature regarding discounting over the last 25 years, no satisfactory reply has yet been offered to the question of whether health consequences have to be discounted at the same rate as monetary consequences in the economic evaluation of health programmes or interventions designed to improve health. Against this background, the main objective of this paper was to review and systemise these theoretical arguments, with the aim of determining whether any of the positions identified can be accepted without reservation. Having determined that this is not possible, we investigated the rationality of discounting in the literature and, on this basis, propose a potential way to resolve the problem.