Background: Several studies have confirmed the existence of a significant positive relationship between income and health. Conventional regression techniques such as Ordinary Least Squares only help identify the effect of the covariates on the mean of the health variable. In this way, important information of the income-health relationship could be overlooked. As an alternative, we apply and compare unconventional regression techniques.
Methods: We adopt a distributional approach because we want to allow the effect of income on health to vary according to people's health status. We start by analysing the income-health relationship using a distributional regression model that falls into the GAMLSS (Generalized Additive Models for Location, Scale and Shape) framework. We assume a gamma distribution to model the health variable and specify the parameters of this distribution as linear functions of a set of explanatory variables. For comparison, we also adopt a quantile regression analysis. Based on predicted health quantiles, we use both a parametric and a non-parametric approach to estimate the lower tail of the health distribution.
Results: Our data come from Wave 13 of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey, collected in 2013-2014. According to GAMLSS, we find that the risk of ending up in poor, fair or average health is lower for those who have relatively high incomes ($80,000) than for those who have relatively low incomes ($20,000), for both smokers and non-smokers. In relative terms, the risk-lowering effect of income appears to be the largest for those who are in poor health, again for both smokers and non-smokers. The results obtained on the basis of quantile regression are to a large extent comparable to those obtained by means of GAMLSS regression.
Conclusions: Both distributional regression techniques point in the direction of a non-uniform effect of income on health, and are therefore promising complements to conventional regression techniques as far as the analysis of the income-health relationship is concerned.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12939-020-01189-1 | DOI Listing |
JCO Glob Oncol
January 2025
Department of Public Health, Myungsung Medical College, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Purpose: To analyze survival and its predictors among patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) receiving transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) in Ethiopia.
Materials And Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study among patients who received TACE for HCC at MCM Hospital from December 1, 2016, to December 31, 2022. Data were extracted from patients' medical records, and vital status was ascertained from the patients' charts or by phone call to the next of kin.
JAMA Netw Open
January 2025
Ronald O. Perelman Department of Emergency Medicine, New York University Langone Health, New York.
Importance: Increasing underrepresented in medicine (URIM) physicians among historically underserved communities helps reduce health disparities. The concordance of URIM physicians with their communities improves access to care, particularly for American Indian and Alaska Native, Black, and Hispanic or Latinx individuals.
Objectives: To explore county-level racial and ethnic representation of US internal medicine (IM) residents, examine racial and ethnic concordance between residents and their communities, and assess whether representation varies by presence of academic institutions or underserved settings.
Med Care
January 2025
Center for Innovation to Implementation, VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Menlo, Park, CA.
Background: For nearly a decade, the US Veterans Health Administration (VA) has distributed tablets to Veterans with access barriers who may benefit from video telehealth visits. Older Veterans' lower likelihood of tablet use relative to younger Veterans has prompted interest in factors influencing tablet utilization.
Objectives: We examined whether social support facilitates video telehealth utilization among older Veterans who received VA tablets.
Front Neurol
January 2025
Department of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ambo University, Ambo, Ethiopia.
Background: Globally, in ~50% of epilepsy cases, the underlying cause remains unknown, despite the fact that various disease pathways may contribute to the condition. Nearly 80% of people with epilepsy live in low- and middle-income countries and the risk of premature death in people with epilepsy is up to three times higher than that for the general population. Identifying the determinants of epilepsy is important for applying evidence-based interventions to achieve a better outcome.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Public Health
January 2025
Department of Scientific Research, Hainan General Hospital, Haikou, China.
Objective: To assess the current status of knowledge, attitude, and practice pertaining to tuberculosis prevention among college students in Hainan Province, China, and to identify influential factors. The findings of this study are intended to provide valuable insights for the development and implementation of effective health education programs aimed at tuberculosis prevention and control.
Methods: A convenient sampling method was employed to conduct a questionnaire-based survey among college students at a university in Hainan Province using the Wenjuanxing platform from January to February 2023.
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