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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Jung-Hua Liu, Institute of Health Policy and Management, College of Public Health, National Taiwan Univerity, Room 1519, No.1, Sec.1, Jen-Ai Road, Taipei, 100, Taiwan, 886-2-23414493, jhliu@ha.mc.ntu.edu.tw and Tung-liang Chiang, Institute of Health Policy and Management, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Room 1519, No. 1, Sec. 1, Jen-Ai Road, Taipei, Taiwan.
Context - In the past three decades the regional variation in household disposable incomes in Taiwan has increased, while the geographic mal-distribution of medical care resources has been reduced through the health care regionalization program of 1985 and the universal health insurance program of 1995.
Objective - To examine the changing relation between area deprivation and medically avoidable mortality in Taiwan since 1976.
Design - Time-series regression analysis.
Setting - 21 regions in Taiwan.
Main outcome measure - Medically avoidable mortality from natural causes.
Results - The medically avoidable mortality from natural causes per 100,000 population aged 5-64 declined from 93.5 in 1976 to 38.9 in 2000 in Taiwan. The association between avoidable mortality and area deprivation was strong (P<0.001), and better-off regions had continued having a lower avoidable mortality rate than deprived regions. However, the divergent trends of avoidable mortality rate across regions were not statistically significant (P>0.05), in contrast to the sharp divergent trends of all causes mortality (P<0.01).
Conclusion - The regional differentials in medically avoidable mortality in Taiwan did not become worse following an increasing income inequality. This may be in part due to the distributive health policy of Taiwan.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to
Keywords: Mortality, Poverty
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.