Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Changes in the health status of the population of Central and Eastern European countries between 1990 and 2010

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
The European Journal of Health Economics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objective

The aim of this study was to analyse change in the health status of the population in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) since 1990, compared with the ‘old’ EU-15 member states of the European Union (EU).

Methods

We analysed data from the Health for All Database and the Global Burden of Disease report of the World Health Organization (WHO). Life expectancy at birth and disability-adjusted life years were analysed for 1990–2010. Age-standardised death rates (ASDR) and potential years of life lost (PYLL) were assessed for selected inflammatory diseases.

Results

Life expectancy at birth for male individuals improved in CEE by 4.8 years and in the EU-15 by 5.4 years. During the same period, life expectancy at birth for female individuals improved in CEE by 4.0 years and in the EU-15 by 4.2 years. The difference in life expectancy at birth between male and female individuals in the EU-15 decreased by 1.2 years and in CEE by 0.8 years. Comparisons of ASDR and PYLL among the EU-15 and CEE countries were difficult because of the potentially low validity of the available data.

Conclusions

The health status of the CEE population has improved since 1990. However, only a few countries have closed the gap with the EU-15 countries. Inflammatory conditions might represent a significant disease burden in CEE countries; however, a thorough analysis and comparison to the EU-15 is difficult because of a shortage of good-quality data.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Forster, D.P., Józan, P.: Health in Eastern Europe. Lancet 335, 458–460 (1990)

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Kesteloot, H., Sans, S., Kromhout, D.: Dynamics of cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in Western and Eastern Europe between 1970 and 2000. Eur. Heart J. 27, 107–113 (2006)

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Gulácsi, L., Edes, I., Hajdú, E., Tóthfalusi, L.: Risk and prevention in cardiovascular diseases. Orv. Hetil. 145(50), 2515–2521 (2004)

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Mackenbach, J.P., Looman, C.W.: Life expectancy and national income in Europe, 1900–2008: an update of Preston’s analysis. Int. J. Epidemiol. 42(4), 1100–1110 (2013)

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. World Health Organization (WHO). European Health for All database (HFA-DB). World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe. July 2013. http://www.euro.who.int/en/data-and-evidence/databases/european-health-for-all-database-hfa-db

  6. World Health Organization (WHO). Global Health Estimates (GHE) summary tables: DALYs by cause, age and sex. WHO, Geneva, Switzerland. November 2013. http://www.who.int/healthinfo/global_burden_disease/en/

  7. World Health Organization (WHO). European Detailed Mortality Database (DMDB). http://data.euro.who.int/dmdb/

  8. O’Neill, M.E., Mathews, K.L.: Levene tests of homogeneity of variance for general block and treatment designs. Biometrics 58(1), 216–224 (2002)

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Harteloh, P., de Bruin, K., Kardaun, J.: The reliability of cause-of-death coding in The Netherlands. Eur. J. Epidemiol. 25(8), 531–538 (2010)

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Boncz, I., Sebestyén, A.: Financial deficits in the health services of the UK and Hungary. Lancet 368(9539), 917–918 (2006)

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Boncz, I., Nagy, J., Sebestyén, A., Korösi, L.: Financing of health care services in Hungary. Eur. J. Health. Econ. 5(3), 252–258 (2004)

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Minier, T., Péntek, M., Brodszky, V., Ecseki, A., Kárpáti, K., Polgár, A., Czirják, L., Gulácsi, L.: Cost-of-illness of patients with systemic sclerosis in a tertiary care centre. Rheumatology (Oxford) 49(10), 1920–1928 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Brodszky, V., Bálint, P., Géher, P., Hodinka, L., Horváth, G., Koó, É., Péntek, M., Polgár, A., Seszták, M., Szántó, S., Ujfalussy, I., Gulácsi, L.: Disease burden of psoriatic arthritis compared to rheumatoid arthritis, Hungarian experiment. Rheumatol. Int. 30(2), 199–205 (2009)

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Péntek, M., Kobelt, G., Czirják, L., Szekanecz, Z., Poór, G., Rojkovich, B., Polgár, A., Genti, G., Kiss, C.G., Brodszky, V., Májer, I., Gulácsi, L.: Costs of rheumatoid arthritis in Hungary. J. Rheumatol. 34(6), 1437 (2007)

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Health Insurance, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pécs, Mária u. 5–7, Pécs, 7621, Hungary

    Imre Boncz, Réka Vajda, István Ágoston, Dóra Endrei & Andor Sebestyén

  2. South-Transdanubian Regional Office, National Health Insurance Fund Administration (OEP), Nagy Lajos király útja 3, Pécs, 7645, Hungary

    Andor Sebestyén

Authors
  1. Imre Boncz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Réka Vajda
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. István Ágoston
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Dóra Endrei
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Andor Sebestyén
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Imre Boncz.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Boncz, I., Vajda, R., Ágoston, I. et al. Changes in the health status of the population of Central and Eastern European countries between 1990 and 2010. Eur J Health Econ 15 (Suppl 1), 137–141 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10198-014-0602-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10198-014-0602-8

Keywords

JEL Classification

Search

Navigation