Journal article

Short-run effects of poverty on asthma, ear infections and health service use: analysis of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children

Rebecca Bentley, Koen Simons, Amanda Kvalsvig, Barry Milne, Tony Blakely

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY | OXFORD UNIV PRESS | Published : 2021

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Many studies have reported an inferred causal association of income poverty with physical health among children; but making causal inference is challenging due to multiple potential sources of systematic error. We quantified the short-run effect of changes in household poverty status on children's health (asthma and ear infections) and service use (visits to the doctor and parent-reported hospital admissions), using a national longitudinal study of Australian children, with particular attention to potential residual confounding and selection bias due to study attrition. METHODS: We use four modelling approaches differing in their capacity to reduce residual confounding (generaliz..

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Grants

Awarded by Health Research Council of New Zealand


Funding Acknowledgements

The results reported herein correspond to specific aims of grant HRC 17/250 to B.M. from the Health Research Council of New Zealand.