Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
Using 2001-2016 Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys (MEPS) data from working adults, a paper by Cawley et al. (2021) find that: Adults with obesity in the United States compared with those with normal weight experienced higher annual medical care costs by $2,505 or 100%, with costs increasing significantly with class of obesity, from 68.4% for class…
That is the finding from a paper by Afoakwah et al. (2022) in JAMA Open. The authors use 2015-2019 data from the National Vital Statistics System, CDC WONDER, and the CDC’s Alcohol-Related Disease Impact (ARDI) Application for 58 alcohol-related causes of death. They find that: During the 2015-2019 study period, of 694 660 mean deaths…
Not a surprise, but the study approach used by Kulaja et al. (2022) is interesting. They examine identical twins an examine how early adult exercise habits impact long term health outcomes. The abstract is below. …monozygotic (MZ) twin pairs discordant for health habits provide an interesting natural experiment. Twin pairs discordant for leisure‐time physical activity…
Antibiotic resistance is an increasing problem. My own research shows that when infections are antibiotic resistance, the risk of complications rises as does the cost to treat the infection. According to the CDC, antimicrobial resistance is a major public health problem: …killing at least 1.27 million people worldwide and associated with nearly 5 million deaths…
…well, at least fewer people are dying from natural disasters. This is from a recent New York Times article.
Soda taxes seem like a sensible tax. Most studies show that soda is not healthy and taxing something that leads to negative health benefits seems like a reasonable policy. A key question, however, is whether soda taxes–more formally known as taxes on sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs)–lead to a reduction in soda consumption and healthier eating…
What types of data capacity does the National Academies believe are needed to improve patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR), particularly with respect to health disparities. A report out this month (highlights) highlights some of the data capacity needs and also describes how U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for…
Today, one of my studies was published. The title of the study was “Economic burden of antibiotic-not-susceptible isolates in uncomplicated urinary tract infection: Analysis of a US integrated delivery network database” This is work with co-authors Alen Marijam, Ashish V. Joshi, Fanny S. Mitrani-Gold, Katie Everson, Rifat Tuly, Peter Rosenquist, Michael Gillam & Maria Elena…
That is the title of a recent FTI Journal article from my colleague Margaret E. Guerin-Calvert, the President, of FTI Consulting’s Center for Healthcare Economics and Policy. An excerpt is below. Indeed, pre-pandemic data collected by FTI Consulting’s Center for Healthcare Economics and Policy for two metropolitan areas, Buffalo and Nashville, portends trouble. Just three chronic conditions…
The Urban Institute has an interesting report titled Obesity Across America. Being overweight (BMS>25), obese (BMI>30) or severely obese (BMI>40) is very common in the U.S. with three quarters of individuals being overweight and nearly half obese. Obesity varies by race and ethnicity as well. Black adults are more likely to live with obesity than…