Benmarhnia Tarik, Zunzunegui Maria-Victoria, Llácer Alicia, Béland Francois
École de santé publique, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
École de santé publique, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
Gac Sanit. 2014 Jun;28 Suppl 1:137-41. doi: 10.1016/j.gaceta.2014.02.016.
Older adults are seldom considered in studies on the health impact of economic recessions or crises. However, they constitute a population group that is highly vulnerable to decreases in investment in health and social services and social security. Our aim is to examine the relationship between the economic crisis starting in 2008 and the health status of older adults in Spain. More specifically, we analyze changes in trends of mortality in relation to the crisis, the specific impact of winter on mortality and gender differences in the crisis' impact on mortality. Using data from the National Institute of Statistics of Spain on people over 60 years of age, the number of monthly deaths by age and sex from January 2005 to December 2012 was analyzed. Interrupted time series analyses and the "difference in differences" method were used. During the crisis, for adults 60 years and older: 1) the observed mortality seems to be decreasing at a slower rate than what would have been expected in the absence of the crisis; 2) there has been an increase in winter mortality; 3) the impact of the crisis has been greater for female than for male mortality. These results suggest sizable effects of the economic crisis on the mortality of older adults and argue for research done using more detailed analyses integrating economic indicators.
在关于经济衰退或危机对健康影响的研究中，很少会考虑到老年人。然而，他们是一个极易受到健康和社会服务以及社会保障投资减少影响的人群。我们的目的是研究始于2008年的经济危机与西班牙老年人健康状况之间的关系。更具体地说，我们分析了与危机相关的死亡率趋势变化、冬季对死亡率的具体影响以及危机对死亡率影响中的性别差异。利用西班牙国家统计局关于60岁以上人群的数据，分析了2005年1月至2012年12月按年龄和性别划分的每月死亡人数。采用了中断时间序列分析和“差异中的差异”方法。在危机期间，对于60岁及以上的成年人：1）观察到的死亡率下降速度似乎比没有危机时预期的要慢；2）冬季死亡率有所上升；3）危机对女性死亡率的影响比对男性的影响更大。这些结果表明经济危机对老年人死亡率有相当大的影响，并主张使用更详细的分析方法结合经济指标进行研究。
