Resources Repository
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ArticlePublication 2020Premature Deaths, Statistical Lives, and Years of Life
This article clarifies some misconceptions about mortality risk and economic valuation. The mortality effects of …
This article clarifies some misconceptions about mortality risk and economic valuation. The mortality effects of exposure to environmental hazards such as air pollution are often described by the estimated number of “premature deaths” and the economic value of an exposure reduction as the number of “statistical lives saved” multiplied by the “value per statistical life.” These terms can be misleading because the number of deaths advanced by exposure cannot be determined from mortality data; it…
Benefit-Cost Analysis | Environmental Health | Preferences/Values | Health Outcomes | Policy/Regulation | College | Graduate | Critical Thinking/Analysis -
ArticlePublication 2018Examining Evaluation Methods for Health Equity Policies
This article reviews diverse methods for evaluating public policies that address social determinants of health …
This article reviews diverse methods for evaluating public policies that address social determinants of health equity. Understanding approaches to evaluating public policies is essential in strengthening the evidence base that informs policy change. Examining 50 studies in the article, the authors find that most studies evaluating policies for health equity outcomes use observational research designs and regression techniques to analyze impact. Furthermore, the studies reviewed primarily relied on secondary data, and nearly three out of…
Evidence Synthesis | Global Governance | Health Outcomes | Social Determinants | Government/Law | Global -
ReviewPublication 2016Cochrane Review: Strategies to Improve the Implementation of Obesity Prevention
Despite the existence of effective interventions and best-practice guideline recommendations for childcare services to implement …
Despite the existence of effective interventions and best-practice guideline recommendations for childcare services to implement policies, practices, and programs to promote child healthy eating, physical activity, and prevent unhealthy weight gain, many services fail to do so. The primary aim of the review was to examine the effectiveness of strategies aimed to improve the implementation of policies, practices, or programs by childcare services that promote child healthy eating, physical activity, and/or obesity prevention. The secondary…
Evidence Synthesis | Child/Nutrition | Chronic Disease/Risk | Health Systems | Policy/Regulation | Clinical Care | Culture/Society | Education/Labor | Health/Medicine | Global -
ArticlePublication 2016Redrawing the U.S. Obesity Landscape: State-Specific Adult Obesity Prevalence
State-level estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) underestimate the obesity epidemic …
State-level estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) underestimate the obesity epidemic because they use self-reported height and weight. This study described a novel bias-correction method and produced corrected state-level estimates of obesity and severe obesity. Using non-parametric statistical matching, the authors adjusted self-reported data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) 2013 (n = 386,795) using measured data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) (n = 16,924).…
Evidence Synthesis | Child/Nutrition | Health Outcomes | Health/Medicine | North America -
ReviewPublication 2016Choosing an Epidemiological Model Structure for Economic Evaluation
This review presents a taxonomy of epidemiological model structures and applies it to the economic …
This review presents a taxonomy of epidemiological model structures and applies it to the economic evaluation of public health interventions for non-communicable diseases. Growing pressures on health services and on social care have led to a greater need for prevention of chronic diseases. In order for decision makers to make informed judgements about how to best spend finite public health resources, they must be able to quantify the anticipated costs, benefits, and opportunity costs of…
Dynamic Simulation | Environmental Health | Mathematical Models | State-Transition | Dynamic Transmission | Microsimulation | Chronic Disease/Risk | Social Determinants | Health Systems | Climate/Environment | Culture/Society | Health/Medicine -
ReviewPublication 2016Decision Support for Infectious Disease Control
This report from RAND reviews decision-support tools, including models and nonmodeling approaches, that are relevant to …
This report from RAND reviews decision-support tools, including models and nonmodeling approaches, that are relevant to infectious disease prevention, detection, and response and aligns these tools with real-world policy questions that the tools can help address. This overview is designed to help modelers and other technical experts understand the questions that policymakers will raise and the decisions they must make. The report also presents policymakers with the capabilities and limitations of the different tools that may…
Dynamic Simulation | Global Governance | Mathematical Models | State-Transition | Dynamic Transmission | Microsimulation | Infectious Diseases | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | Military/Defense | Global -
ReviewPublication 2015Economic Evaluation of Diet and Physical Activity to Prevent Type 2 Diabetes: Systematic Review
Studies indicate that combined diet and physical activity promotion programs can prevent type 2 diabetes …
Studies indicate that combined diet and physical activity promotion programs can prevent type 2 diabetes among persons at increased risk. This paper systematically evaluates the evidence on cost, cost-effectiveness, and cost–benefit estimates of diet and physical activity promotion programs. English-language studies from high-income countries that provided data on cost, cost-effectiveness, or cost–benefit ratios of diet and physical activity promotion programs with at least 2 sessions over at least 3 months delivered to persons at increased risk…
Evidence Synthesis | Child/Nutrition | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Chronic Disease/Risk | Social Determinants | Health Systems | Food/Agriculture | Health/Medicine | North America | Europe | Asia & Pacific -
ArticlePublication 2015Benefit-Cost Analysis for Selected Surgical Interventions
This chapter presents an approach for performing benefit-cost analysis using cleft lip and palate (CLP) repair as …
This chapter presents an approach for performing benefit-cost analysis using cleft lip and palate (CLP) repair as a model surgical intervention in a subspecialty hospital dedicated to CLP in India, and a benefit-cost analysis based on secondary data that model the benefit and cost of cesarean delivery for treatment of obstructed labor in 47 low- and middle-income countries. This chapter is from Essential Surgery, the first volume in the Disease Control Priorities, third edition (DCP3) series. The…
Benefit-Cost Analysis | Child/Nutrition | Maternal/Reproductive Health | Health Systems | Health/Medicine | Global | Asia & Pacific -
GuidelinesPublication 2014EPA Guidelines for Preparing Economic Analyses
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Guidelines for Preparing Economic Analyses provide a framework for …
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Guidelines for Preparing Economic Analyses provide a framework for assessing the impacts of environmental regulations and policies that has been extensively peer-reviewed and is widely-applied both within and outside of the agency. The Guidelines discuss: (1) statutory and executive order requirements for conducting economic analyses; (2) identifying the need for policy action; (3) regulatory and non-regulatory approaches to pollution control; (4) baseline definition; (5) discounting future benefits and costs;…
Benefit-Cost Analysis | Environmental Health | Preferences/Values | Priority Setting/Ethics | Decision Analysis | Policy/Regulation | Climate/Environment | Government/Law | North America | Critical Thinking/Analysis