Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Apr 2016
The association between participation in a pay-for-performance program and macrovascular complications in patients with type 2 diabetes in Taiwan: A nationwide population-based cohort study.
Diabetes and diabetes-related complications are major causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide and contribute substantially to health care costs. Proper care can prevent or delay vascular complications in people with type 2 diabetes. We sought to examine whether a diabetes pay-for-performance (P4P) program under Taiwan's National Health Insurance program decreased risk of macrovascular complications in type 2 diabetes patients, and associated risk factors. ⋯ Compared with patients not enrolled in the P4P program, P4P patients had lower risk of developing serious vascular complications. Our empirical findings provide evidence for the potential long-term benefit of P4P programs in reducing risks of macrovascular complications.
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Preventive medicine · Apr 2016
Effect of appreciation for Indigenous cultures and exposure to racial insults on alcohol and drug use initiation among multiethnic Argentinean youth.
This study evaluated the effect of factors reflecting appreciation of Indigenous culture and racial insults on alcohol and drug use initiation among multi-ethnic youth in Jujuy, Argentina. ⋯ Enhancing appreciation for Indigenous cultures and decreasing racial insults are achievable goals that can be incorporated into programs to prevent youth substance use.
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Preventive medicine · Apr 2016
Preventing dementia by promoting physical activity and the long-term impact on health and social care expenditures.
Preventing dementia has been proposed to increase population health as well as reduce the demand for health and social care. Our aim was to evaluate whether preventing dementia by promoting physical activity (PA) a) improves population health or b) reduces expenditure for both health and social care if one takes into account the additional demand in health and social care caused by increased life expectancy. ⋯ Preventing dementia by increasing PA increases life expectancy and can result in decreased spending overall on health and social care, even after additional spending during life years gained has been taken into account. If prevention is targeted at the physically inactive, savings in dementia-related costs outweigh the additional spending in life years gained.