Accounting for the dead in the longitudinal analysis of income-related health inequalities

TY - JOUR

T1 - Accounting for the dead in the longitudinal analysis of income-related health inequalities

AU - Petrie, Dennis

AU - Allanson, Paul

AU - Gerdtham, Ulf-G.

PY - 2011/9

Y1 - 2011/9

N2 - This paper develops an accounting framework to consider the effect of deaths on the longitudinal analysis of income-related health inequalities. Ignoring deaths or using Inverse Probability Weights (IPWs) to re-weight the sample for mortality-related attrition can produce misleading results. Incorporating deaths into the longitudinal analysis of income-related health inequalities provides a more complete picture in terms of the evaluation of health changes in respect to socioeconomic status. We illustrate our work by investigating health mobility from 1999 till 2004 using the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS). We show that for Scottish males explicitly accounting for the dead rather than using IPWs to account for mortality-related attrition changes the direction of the relationship between relative health changes and initial income position, from negative to positive, while for other groups it significantly increases the strength of the positive relationship. Incorporating the dead may be vital in the longitudinal analysis of health inequalities. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

AB - This paper develops an accounting framework to consider the effect of deaths on the longitudinal analysis of income-related health inequalities. Ignoring deaths or using Inverse Probability Weights (IPWs) to re-weight the sample for mortality-related attrition can produce misleading results. Incorporating deaths into the longitudinal analysis of income-related health inequalities provides a more complete picture in terms of the evaluation of health changes in respect to socioeconomic status. We illustrate our work by investigating health mobility from 1999 till 2004 using the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS). We show that for Scottish males explicitly accounting for the dead rather than using IPWs to account for mortality-related attrition changes the direction of the relationship between relative health changes and initial income position, from negative to positive, while for other groups it significantly increases the strength of the positive relationship. Incorporating the dead may be vital in the longitudinal analysis of health inequalities. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

KW - Mortality

KW - Income-related health inequality

KW - Mobility analysis

KW - Longitudinal data

KW - Inverse probability weights (IPWs)

KW - HOUSEHOLD PANEL SURVEY

KW - SELF-ASSESSED HEALTH

KW - EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

KW - BRITAIN

KW - TRENDS

KW - TIME

U2 - 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2011.07.004

DO - 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2011.07.004

M3 - Article

C2 - 21820193

SN - 0167-6296

VL - 30

SP - 1113

EP - 1123

JO - Journal of Health Economics

JF - Journal of Health Economics

IS - 5

ER -