Female and male treatable mortality: socioeconomic and public finance related factors across European countries.

BACKGROUND

About 36.5% of premature deaths in European Union countries could have been avoided through prompt and effective medical treatment. This treatable mortality is even a priority established in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 3.4. Given the gap in the literature about the socioeconomic drivers of this type of mortality, as well as the increasing importance of public financial management in defining priority policies, this study aims to analyze the socioeconomic and public finance drivers associated with treatable mortality for women and men across European countries.

METHODS

Eurostat data is collected for 31 countries for the period 2011-2019 stratified by sex. Panel data quantile regression with fixed effects and conditional mean panel data model using feasible generalized least squares are estimated to explain treatable mortality in women and men.

RESULTS

Key findings point to a positive association between the public finance indicator proxying health priority and the treatable mortality rate for both sexes; a difference between drivers of treatable mortality between men and women; and a different set of drivers across the different quantiles of treatable mortality.

CONCLUSION

Drivers of male and female treatable mortality may differ according to the country's level of mortality rate. Government health priority seems to account for previous treatable mortality rates as a reactive measure. Policymakers aiming to reduce treatable mortality are likely to use instruments such as health expenditure, improved employment, education levels, and perhaps proactive policy-setting priorities concerning health.