Essays on health economics

Resumo

The objective of this thesis is to investigate the impact in Spain of key socioeconomic variables (income, education, age, household size, place of residence, unemployment, etc.) on certain lifestyle (diet and drug consumption) and health (obesity) indicators. Investigated were factors affecting obesity prevalence in children aged 2-15 years, the risk profile of adults aged 18-65 years in terms of their propensity to consume drugs and the impact of unemployment on food expenditure and adult obesity in both economic boom and crisis periods. Our research shows that income and education are the factors that most affect the prevalence of childhood obesity in Spain, whereas drug users are most likely to be males in employment and living alone. As for the impact of unemployment, the results indicate that food expenditure is reduced and that the reduction is even greater during an economic crisis. Unemployment also increases the likelihood of obesity, but only during an economic crisis. The results obtained provide information that will be useful for more precisely identifying population groups that should be targeted with preventive public health information.