Non‐ and Semi‐Parametric Estimation of Age and Time Heterogeneity in Repeated Cross‐Sections: An Application to Self‐Reported Morbidity and General Practitioner Utilization

Abstract

Patterns of self‐reported morbidity and general practitioner (GP) utilization exhibit complex age, sex and time heterogeneity. Underlying patterns are often obscured by data which are overly ‘rough’ because of noise associated with adjacent year fluctuations. In this paper we describe methods to obtain smoothed estimates of age, time and birth‐cohort effects using data from the General Household Survey (GHS), covering the period 1984–1995/6 inclusive. The methods outlined offer powerful analytic tools to research complex profiles or trends, particularly over age or time. The relationships of the morbidity and GP utilization measures with age, sex and survey year characteristics are estimated..