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Health care system efficiency and life expectancy:A 140-country study
- Source :
- Zarulli, V, Sopina, L, Toffolutti, V & Lenart, A 2021, ' Health care system efficiency and life expectancy : A 140-country study ', PLOS ONE, vol. 16, no. 7 . https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253450, PLoS ONE, PLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 7, p e0253450 (2021)
- Publication Year :
- 2021
-
Abstract
- Despite the evidence of links between health expenditure and health care efficiency, it is still unclear why countries with similar levels of health expenditures experience different outputs in terms of life expectancy at birth. Health care system efficiency might shed some light on the question. Using output-oriented data envelopment analysis, we compared the health systems of 140 countries in terms of attained life expectancy. Efficiency is determined by the distance from the closest country on the best practice frontier, which identifies the highest attainable life expectancy observed for any given level of health care spending. By using national data form the Human Development Data, we built the efficiency frontier and computed the potential life expectancy increase for each country. The potential improvement was, on average, 5.47 years [95%CI: 4.71–6.27 years]. The least efficient countries (10th percentile of the efficiency score) could improve by 11.78 years, while the most efficient countries (90th percentile of the efficiency score) could only improve by 0.83 years. We then analyzed, with regression analysis stratified by average education level, and by the role of health-related variables in differentiating efficient and inefficient countries from each other. The results suggest that, among countries with lower levels of education, decreasing unemployment and income inequality increases average life expectancy, without increasing health expenditure levels.
- Subjects :
- Economics
Health Status
Social Sciences
Global Health
Mathematical and Statistical Techniques
Economic inequality
Health care
Medicine and Health Sciences
Public and Occupational Health
Sanitation
050207 economics
media_common
Multidisciplinary
030503 health policy & services
Statistics
05 social sciences
Efficient frontier
Socioeconomic Aspects of Health
Human development (humanity)
Physical Sciences
Income
Medicine
Educational Status
Regression Analysis
Behavioral and Social Aspects of Health
0305 other medical science
Environmental Health
Research Article
Science
media_common.quotation_subject
Research and Analysis Methods
03 medical and health sciences
Life Expectancy
Health Economics
Population Metrics
0502 economics and business
Data envelopment analysis
Humans
Statistical Methods
Health Care Policy
Health economics
Population Biology
business.industry
Biology and Life Sciences
Health Care
Socioeconomic Factors
Unemployment
Life expectancy
Demographic economics
Health Expenditures
business
Delivery of Health Care
Mathematics
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Zarulli, V, Sopina, L, Toffolutti, V & Lenart, A 2021, ' Health care system efficiency and life expectancy : A 140-country study ', PLOS ONE, vol. 16, no. 7 . https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253450, PLoS ONE, PLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 7, p e0253450 (2021)
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....b8c5337306dff1afeec3420beee648cc