Chan Moon Fai, Devi M Kamala
National University of Singapore, Singapore
National University of Singapore, Singapore.
Asia Pac J Public Health. 2015 Mar;27(2):136-46. doi: 10.1177/1010539512454163. Epub 2012 Aug 2.
The authors aim to examine the impact of demographic changes, socioeconomic inequality, and the availability of health care resources on life expectancy in Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. This is a cross-country study collecting annual data from 3 Southeast Asian countries from 1980 to 2008. Life expectancy is the dependent variable with demographics, socioeconomic status, and health care resources as the 3 main determinants. A structural equation model is used, and results show that the availability of more health care resources and higher levels of socioeconomic advantages are more likely to increase life expectancy. In contrast, demographic changes are more likely to increase life expectancy by way of health care resources. The authors suggest that more effort should be taken to expand and improve the coverage of health care programs to alleviate regional differences in health care use and improve the overall health status of people in these 3 Southeast Asian countries.
作者旨在研究人口结构变化、社会经济不平等以及医疗保健资源的可及性对新加坡、马来西亚和泰国预期寿命的影响。这是一项跨国研究，收集了1980年至2008年3个东南亚国家的年度数据。预期寿命是因变量，人口结构、社会经济地位和医疗保健资源是3个主要决定因素。研究使用了结构方程模型，结果表明，更多医疗保健资源的可及性和更高水平的社会经济优势更有可能提高预期寿命。相比之下，人口结构变化更有可能通过医疗保健资源来提高预期寿命。作者建议，应做出更多努力来扩大和改善医疗保健项目的覆盖范围，以缓解医疗保健使用方面的地区差异，并改善这3个东南亚国家民众的整体健康状况。
