Columbia University and National Bureau of Economic Research Address: Graduate of Business, Columbia University, 504 Uris Hall, 3022 Broadway, New York, NY, 10027, USA.
Disabil Health J. 2019 Jul;12(3):375-386. doi: 10.1016/j.dhjo.2019.01.003. Epub 2019 Jan 23.
Clinical studies have shown that the use of certain drugs can reduce disability. Access to prescription drugs varies across countries. Even when the total number of drugs launched in two countries is similar, the specific drugs that were launched, and the diseases those drugs are used to treat, may differ.
OBJECTIVE/HYPOTHESIS: We test the hypothesis that the larger the relative number of drugs for a disease that were launched during 1982-2015 in a country, the lower the relative disability in 2015 of patients with that disease in that country, controlling for the average level of disability in that country and from that disease, and the number of patients with the disease and their mean age.
We estimate two-way (by country and disease) fixed-effects models of several measures of disability for 31 diseases in eleven European countries using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe and from other sources.
The estimates imply that drug launches during 1982-2015 reduced the probability of severe limitation in 2015 by 4.9 percentage points, from 21.8% to 16.9%; they reduced the probability of any limitation by 7.7 percentage points, from 61.1% to 53.4%; and they reduced the mean number of Activities of Daily Living limitations by about 29%. Drug launches also yielded a small increase in an index of quality of life and well-being.
In general, the larger the number of drugs for a disease that were launched during 1982-2015 in a country, the lower the average disability in 2015 of patients with that disease in that country, controlling for the average level of disability in that country and from that disease, and the number of patients with the disease and their mean age.
临床研究表明，某些药物的使用可以降低残疾程度。处方药物的可及性因国家而异。即使两个国家推出的药物总数相似，推出的具体药物以及这些药物用于治疗的疾病也可能不同。
目的/假设：我们检验了这样一个假设，即在 1982-2015 年期间，一个国家推出的针对某种疾病的药物数量越多，该国该疾病患者在 2015 年的相对残疾程度就越低，同时控制了该国和该疾病的平均残疾水平、该疾病的患者人数及其平均年龄。
我们使用欧洲健康、老龄化和退休调查（Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe）和其他来源的数据，对 11 个欧洲国家的 31 种疾病的几种残疾指标，采用双向（按国家和疾病）固定效应模型进行了估计。
这些估计表明，1982-2015 年期间的药物推出降低了 2015 年严重受限的概率，从 21.8%降至 16.9%；降低了任何受限的概率，从 61.1%降至 53.4%；降低了日常生活活动受限的平均数量约 29%。药物推出还导致生活质量和幸福感指数略有上升。
一般来说，在 1982-2015 年期间，一个国家推出的针对某种疾病的药物数量越多，该国该疾病患者在 2015 年的平均残疾程度就越低，同时控制了该国和该疾病的平均残疾水平、该疾病的患者人数及其平均年龄。
